Orders or magnitude allow physicists to compare very large and very small distances. The range of subatomic particles and fundamental forces are the cutting edge of modern physics.
The standard model describes three of these forces - it does not describe or explain gravity.
The other three forces (electromagnetism, strong interaction, and weak interaction) exist between fermions (quarks and leptons). They arise from the exchange of bosons. Bosons are the ‘force carrying’ or ‘force mediating’ particles.
If a fermion, such as a quark or lepton, produces a boson which is then taken in by another fermion, then a force exists between the two fermions.
Force
Boson
Source
Strength (relative to the strong force in the nucleus)
Range (metres)
Electromagnetism
Photon
Charge
\(10^{-2}\)
Infinite
Strong
Gluons
Colour
\(1\)
\(10^{-15}\)
Weak
\(W^{+}, W^{-}, Z\)
Weak charge
\(10^{-5}\)
\(10^{-18}\)
Force
Electromagnetism
Boson
Photon
Source
Charge
Strength (relative to the strong force in the nucleus)
\(10^{-2}\)
Range (metres)
Infinite
Force
Strong
Boson
Gluons
Source
Colour
Strength (relative to the strong force in the nucleus)
\(1\)
Range (metres)
\(10^{-15}\)
Force
Weak
Boson
\(W^{+}, W^{-}, Z\)
Source
Weak charge
Strength (relative to the strong force in the nucleus)
\(10^{-5}\)
Range (metres)
\(10^{-18}\)
Some scientists have suggested that gravity might be mediated by a theoretical boson called a graviton, but this has not yet proved to exist. Many of the particles in the table above do not normally exist but can be produced by high energy events such as happen in particle colliders or during the formation of stars etc.
Every one of the particles shown above also have antimatter 'anti-particles'. These will annihilate each other to produce a boson.
