Exchange Particles

Exhange particles are particles that mediate the forces between other particles. Each fundamental forces has its own exchange particles.
The exchange particle for the gravitational force is the graviton. The exchange particle for the electromagnetic force is the photon.
The exchange particle for the strong force is the gluon.
Some exhchange particles have short range and lifetimes. This is because a lot of energy is need to create them, which has to be 'borrowed' from the vacuum. Heavuer particles can borry for shorter times. This is true of the W and Z bosons and the gluon. The graviton and photon have infinite range.
On Feynmann diagrams exchange particles are shown as wavy lines, as shown below.

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