color force

noun

physics

: a fundamental physical force that is responsible for the binding together of quarks : strong force

All of this is analogous to the convention in which ordinary mesons are said to consist of ordinary quarks held together by the color force.

—Kenneth Lane, Physics Today, January 1984

The trio … were cited for their important theoretical discoveries "concerning the strong force, or the 'color force' as it is also called," the academy said. "The strong force is the one that is dominant in the atomic nucleus, acting between the quarks inside the proton and the neutron."

—Matt Moore, Associated Press International, 5 Oct. 2004

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above

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