# The Weak Interaction

Some nuclear decays cannot be explained with only the strong and the electromagnetic interactions, another interaction is required. These decays are called beta decays (β-decay), and turn a neutron into a proton (or the other way around) and emit an electron and a new particle, the neutrino [or a positron (an antielectron)]. They are rare and very different from the other types of decays, which is the reason that we need the new force to explain them, the weak force. This force has the Z and W bosons as messenger particles, these differ from the other messenger particles in that they have a mass, they are in fact very massive.