Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
The electroweak force is a unified theory that combines the electromagnetic and weak forces at high energies. It describes interactions involving elementary particles such as electrons, neutrinos, and W and Z bosons.
Related terms
Weak Force: One of the four fundamental forces that governs certain types of radioactive decay processes.
Elementary Particles: Fundamental particles that cannot be broken down into smaller components, such as quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons.
W and Z Bosons: Intermediate vector bosons responsible for mediating weak interactions between elementary particles.