fundamental interaction
- noun
- /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntəl ˌɪntəˈrækʃən/
- Specialized
:
interacción fundamental
- Gravity is one of the four known fundamental interactions used to study and interpret physical phenomena.
Examples
-
With the SLAC electron beam, Perl hoped to uncover some small telltale difference in the fundamental interactions of the two species.
Academic text (1995) -
During the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang, the universe was governed by a single fundamental interaction; the very early universe, being microscopic, was a quantum phenomenon.
Academic text (1991) -
In the papers 14, 15, weak non-locality has been extended to all fundamental interactions.
Academic text (2018) -
The standard model describes all the fundamental interactions between particles via gauge theories.
-
If you look at the fundamental interactions of matter, particles and antiparticles have a great deal in common.
Blog text (33) -
Even if we were to attain a comprehensive theory of fundamental interactions, physics would still fail to address human purpose and hence would provide a causally incomplete description of the real world around us.
Academic text (2006) -
Both laureates work in the field of quantum optics, studying the fundamental interaction between light and matter, a field that has seen considerable progress since the mid-1980s.
Blog text (2) -
James Clerk Maxwell achieved a similar "unification" in the 1860s, when he showed that electricity and magnetism are different manifestations of a more fundamental interaction, electromagnetism.
Academic text (2002) -
Gravity is one of the four known fundamental interactions that govern the behavior of celestial bodies.
-
The standard model of particle physics describes the four fundamental interactions that affect how particles interact with one another.
Synonyms
35
6.7
Energy moves between tiny particles or through fields
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'fundamental' = basic/essential and 'interaction' = a reciprocal action, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'a basic or core interaction.' Although it is a technical label in physics referring specifically to basic forces, that specialized sense is a predictable extension of the constituent meanings rather than an idiomatic shift.
Etymology
Fundamental interaction comes from science words: fundamental means 'basic' and interaction means 'how things act on each other'. Imagine tiny particles pushing or pulling—like gravity pulling or magnets pushing—so the phrase names the main, basic ways things affect one another, and today it means 'the basic ways things push or pull each other'.