High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In particle physics, the strong interaction (also called the strong force, strong nuclear force, or color force) holds quarks and gluons together to form protons, neutrons and other particles. The strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions, along with gravitation, the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction. The word strong is used since the strong interaction is the "strongest" of the four fundamental forces; its typical field strength is 100 times the strength of the electromagnetic force, some 105 times as great as that of the weak force, and about 1039 times that of gravitation. The strong interaction is also the force that binds protons and neutrons together. In this context it is called the nuclear force (or residual strong force), and it is the residue strong interaction between the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons.