Final answer:
The electric force between protons is transmitted through the exchange of gauge bosons, as per Hideki Yukawa's proposal. This exchange is visualized similar to two people throwing a basketball back and forth. The Grand Unified Theory aims to unify all fundamental forces, including electromagnetism, into a single concept.
Step-by-step explanation:
The transmission of protons and their interaction with electric force is a fundamental aspect of particle physics. Particle physicists have proposed that the forces we observe, such as electric force, are transmitted through the exchange of elementary particles, known as gauge bosons. Specifically, protons repel each other due to the exchange of these particles, which carry the electromagnetic force between them.
Hideki Yukawa's work in 1935 led to the understanding that such forces could be explained by particle exchange. This concept is similar to two people passing a basketball back and forth, exerting a repulsive force on each other without physical contact. The gauge bosons act as the carriers of force among protons and other charged particles, resulting in the forces we can calculate using field equations.
Modern physics seeks to unify the four fundamental forces, including the electromagnetic force and the strong nuclear force, into a single framework known as the Grand Unified Theory (GUT). Observations and theories suggest that under certain conditions, these forces may be intimately related or even indistinguishable from one another.