Newton believed that only matter can move matter so particles cause all the forces of nature, but how the earth’s gravity kept the moon in orbit puzzled him. The earth doesn’t touch the moon, yet it pulls it from a distance, so how can particles do that?
The standard model answer is that fields create particles that exert forces. They can’t be seen, as their action destroys them, but the equations imply them. Photons from the electro-magnetic field then cause electrical and magnetic forces, gluons from a strong field cause nuclear forces, weak particles from a weak field cause neutron decay, and a Higgs particle creates their mass.
Force-carrying particles (Figure 4.17) were accepted because the equations worked and accelerator energy spikes made them possible, but gravitons are said to cause gravity based on no evidence at all. The standard model describes our universe as fields upon fields, each producing different force particles, so what exactly is a field?
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QR4.5.1 What is a Field?
QR4.5.2 The Weakening of Science
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