Newton believed that particles cause all the forces of nature because only matter can push matter, so how the earth’s gravity kept the moon in orbit puzzled him. The earth doesn’t touch the moon but it pulls it from a distance, so particles must cause it because nothing else can.
The standard model solution to this puzzle was that Newton was right because modern fields create particles that exert forces. They can’t be seen, as their action destroys them, but the equations imply them. Photon particles from an electro-magnetic field then cause electrical and magnetic forces, gluon particles from a strong field cause nuclear forces, W and Z particles from a weak field cause neutron decay, and a Higgs particle from a field gives mass to W/Z particles.
The standard model of particles (Figure 4.17) was accepted because accelerator energy spikes let its force-carrying particles exist, and the equations worked, so gravity was attributed to graviton particles by analogy, with no evidence. It portrays a universe of fields upon fields, each producing different force particles, but what exactly is a field?
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QR4.5.1 What is a Field?
QR4.5.2 The Frog in the Pan
QR4.5.3 Virtual Particles Aren’t Needed
QR4.5.4 A Model that Feeds on Data
QR4.5.5 A Particle Toolbox
QR4.5.6 The Last Standard Model
QR4.5.7 The Particle Model
QR4.5.8 A Processing Model
QR4.5.9 Testing The Theory