Fundamental Forces: Explaining to a 13yo

[omega-centauri]

How are the normal, static friction, kinetic friction, gravity, electrical and magnetic forces related to the four fundamental forces of nature? I have a 13 year old asking and I am not sure what to say! Any help is kindly appreciated.

 

[russ_watters]

Welcome to PF!

There are four fundamental forces:
-Gravity
-Electromagnetism
-Strong nuclear force
-Weak nuclear force.

You named two and the others you listed are derived from those two. Ie, friction (or any force from objects touching each other) comes from the electromagnetic force of repulsion of the electrons around atoms.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/forces/funfor.html

 

[ZapperZ]

How are the normal, static friction, kinetic friction, gravity, electrical and magnetic forces related to the four fundamental forces of nature? I have a 13 year old asking and I am not sure what to say! Any help is kindly appreciated.

" normal, static friction, kinetic friction, electrical and magnetic forces" - electromagnetic interaction/forces

"gravity" - gravitational interaction/forces.

zz.

 

[Vphysics2013]

Any force like u have mentioned comes under one of the four fundamental forces of nature .
The force can be categorized Depending on the objects responsible in generating the force .
Understanding the forces in simple terms ...
The force that acts between two celestial bodies like planets,stars is considered to be the fundamental weak gravitational force.
Like this the force that acts in the nucleus between two elementary particles (protons,neutrons) is strong nuclear force.
The forces like friction ,normal force ,centrifugal force,centripetal force...etc are forces which acts in different daily life situations are treated as electromagnetic forces.
The fourth fundamental force weak nuclear force is observed in nuclear radioactive decay processes.

 

[omega-centauri]

Thanks so much for everyone's help!

 

[Andrew Mason]

Any force like u have mentioned comes under one of the four fundamental forces of nature .
The force can be categorized Depending on the objects responsible in generating the force .
Understanding the forces in simple terms ...
The force that acts between two celestial bodies like planets,stars is considered to be the fundamental weak gravitational force.
Like this the force that acts in the nucleus between two elementary particles (protons,neutrons) is strong nuclear force.
The forces like friction ,normal force ,centrifugal force,centripetal force...etc are forces which acts in different daily life situations are treated as electromagnetic forces.
The fourth fundamental force weak nuclear force is observed in nuclear radioactive decay processes.

Just to add to this, while normal forces and friction forces are electromagnetic forces, they are related to gravity, which is a fundamental force. The normal force of the table on a box will be much greater on Earth than in space. So the friction forces (static and kinetic) will be as well.

AM