In chemistry, the reason we could study how materials behave is because

they exist, holding together by some kind of forces.

In fact all known forces (or interactions) in the universe can be grouped into
four basic types. Below lists these forces in the order of decreasing strength.
1. The Strong Force
This force is responsible for binding of nuclei. It is the dominant one in
reactions and decays of most of the fundamental particles. This force is so
strong that it binds and stabilize the protons of similar charges within a
nucleus. However, it is very short range. No such force will be felt beyond the
order of 1 fm (femtometer or 10-15 m).
2. The Electromagnetic Force
This is the force which exists between all particles which have an electric
charge. For example, electrons (negative charge) bind with nucleus of an
atom, due to the presence of protons (positive charge). The force is long
range, in principle extending over infinite distance. However, the strength can
quickly diminishes due to shielding effect. Many everyday experiences such as
friction and air resistance are due to this force. This is also the resistant force
that we feel, for example, when pressing our palm against a wall. This is
originated from the fact that no two atoms can occupy the same space.
However, its strength is about 100 times weaker within the range of 1 fm,
where the strong force dominates. But because there is no shielding within
the nucleus, the force can be cumulative and can compete with the strong
force. This competition determines the stability structure of nuclei.
3. The Weak Force This force is responsible for nuclear beta decay and
other similar decay processes involving fundamental particles. The range of
this force is smaller than 1 fm and is 10-7 weaker than the strong force.
Nevertheless, it is important in understanding the behavior of fundamental
particles.
4. The Gravitational Force
This is the force that holds us onto the Earth. It could be important in our
daily life, but on the scale of atomic world it is of negligible or no importance
at all. Gravitational force is cumulative and extended to infinity. It exists
whenever there is matter. Your body is experiencing a gravitaional pull with,
say, your computer (or anything close to you or as far away as stars and
galaxies) but the effect is so small you will never sense it. However, you can
sense the gravitaional pull with the Earth (that is, your weight) due to the
cumulative effect of billions of billions of the atoms made up your body with
those atoms of the Earth. This means that the larger the body (contain more
matter), the stronger the force. But on the scale of individual particles, the
force is extremely small, only in the order of 10 -38 times that of the strong
force.
You will notice that of all the 4 basic forces two of them can be experienced in
our daily life. They are also called the familiar forces which are the
electromagnetic and gravitaional forces. Similarly, the strong force and the
weak force are called theunfamiliar forces.

Okay, we have now identified all known forces, but particle physicists don't
stop here. They ask questions that we normally take it for grant: How do the
forces work? Why do we sense forces - pushing and pulling? In fact the basic
forces between particles of matter all act through a 'force carrier', which is
exchanged between the interacting particles. These exchange carriers are
also known as field particles, or gauge boson.
An analogy to this is like exchange of messages between two persons
maintains a conversation. In this case the conversation is the 'force' that
'binds' two persons while the 'carrier' of the conversation is the message or
language ('catching' the message, hence the attractive force). Ever feel that
you wish to say good bye to your boring yet talkative friend that you meet on
a street? In this case the conversation may be one way and you are not
'catching' it by not responding. Eventually your friend may notice it, stop the
conversation and walk away (thus the repulsion). This analogy must not be
taken in the literal sense. The force carriers are not the actual particle. They
must be viewed as some kind of entity that exist in order to regulate the force
manifestation.
Each basic force has a different type of carrier. They are listed below:
1. The Strong Force Carrier: Gluons (g)
Gluons have no mass and no electric charge. They carry a special 'charge-like'
property that hold quarks (constituents of protons and neutrons) together.
The theoretical treatment of this carrier is described in the theory of quantum
chromodynamics (QCD).
2. The electromagnetic force Carrier: Photons ( )
Photons is responsible to 'carry' electromagnetic forces. It is also known as
the particle of 'light' as they also 'carry' light as what we see. They have no
mass, and no charge and can exchange between two particles over infinite
distance. This is also the reason why light can travel to infinite distance and
we can see stars that are far away. Detailed theoretical description of photons
is given in quantum electrodynamics (QED).

3. The weak force Carrier: W and Z (W+, W-, Z0) The carrier W can be
either positively charged (W+) or negatively charged (W-), while Z is neutral
(Z0). The reason why the force is weak is because these carriers are massive,
about 100 times that of the weight of a proton.
4. The gravitaional force Carrier: Graviton (?) The existence of this
carrier is yet to confirm. If it exists it should have zero mass and zero charge.
It may will be the discovery of the century if its presence is ever detected.