A student states that “the strong nuclear force is the strongest of the four fundamental interactions”. Explain why this statement is not correct.

Describe how deep inelastic scattering experiments support your answer to (a).

State two other conclusions that may be reached from deep inelastic scattering experiments.

the statement is true only for low energies;
at higher energies the strength of the strong interaction decreases;

in deep inelastic scattering experiments the energy transferred to the constituents of hadrons is very large;
the scattering pattern is consistent with quarks inside hadrons behaving as free particles / the interaction between the constituents is very weak (asymptotic freedom);

there are electrically neutral constituents inside hadrons / there are gluons within hadrons;
quarks come in (three) colours;
quarks are charged particles;