Physics Question: What is the Role of a Boson in an Atom?

[TwixyWay]

~Physics Question!

I spend my weekends reading up on quantum physics. Mostly these forums. I find myself flooded with jargon. So I have a quick little question. I am not taking any courses on physics, I am just really interested.

So an atom is:

Election

Proton-----> Made up of quarks
Neutron---> Made up of quarks


Quarks---> held together by fermions using an exchange

Now my question is, where does a boson fit in here? From what I read, a boson is what keeps the electron "in" the atomic structure. But how? I thought one of the 4 forces kept the electrons from flying out into ether.

Also, if I made any mistakes with the quarks and stuff please correct me.

Thank you!

 

[mgb_phys]

Bosons are the particles that are exchanged to give a force.
So the quarks are held together by gluons and the protons and neutrons are held in the atom by the strong and weak force which is carried by W and Z bosons.

The electric field (that holds on to the electron ) is carried by photons - another boson

The big experiment at CERN is to try and find the Higgs boson that carries the effect of mass.

 

[Xezlec]

All the elementary particles (particles not made up of other particles): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_particles

Bosons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson

The whole story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_model