I love to stargaze on dark summers nights, away from city lights, and imagine that I am dancing with the stars.

According to the latest theories in science, there are four fundamental forces in nature–gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. So, what is a force? A force is the interaction between particles. It is how particles interact or relate to one another. Positively charged particles (protons) attract negatively charged particles (electrons), but positively charged protons repel other positively charged particles and similarly electrons repel other electrons.

Gravity is an attractive force, it is weak relative to other forces and it acts over long distances. Gravity is the most familiar of forces, it is what keeps us from flying off the face of the earth, and is responsible for maintaining order in the universe, as it were. Gravity is what accounts for planetary motion. Einstein showed gravity is distortion of spacetime caused by the mass of an object. The more massive an object the greater the distortion of space around it.

Electromagnetism works over infinite ranges in the macroworld and at subatomic levels too. All charged particles in motion create an electromagnetic field (or exchange photons with other charged particles). Electromagnetic forces are what binds electron to a proton to form atoms. It is electrons which attract protons from a neighboring atom to form the force that keeps us from walking through walls or falling through our chair. Electromagnetic force is what gives us electricity and magnetism.

Gravity and electromagnetic forces are the ones we are familiar with in our daily lives. The other two forces–strong and weak nuclear forces–act at the subatomic level. Strong nuclear force keeps the nucleus of an atom together, that is, binds protons with neutrons. Weak nuclear force is responsible for nuclear decay.

Thus, it is these four forces of nature which regulate all interactions between matter. All phenomena in nature are the result of this cosmic dance, between energized particles and the forces of gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces

All that exists and all that happens in nature is explained by the interaction between matter and forces. All of scientific equations are mathematical representations or precise quantification of the action between particles and forces. Mathematical equations are the notations of the choreography of the cosmic dance. The choreographers are the physical laws of nature.

It is as if every particle in nature is reaching out to every other particle and engaging in a beautiful cosmic dance. Shiva’s dance!!