electromagnetic interaction

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun One of the four fundamental interactions of nature, which is mediated by photons and acts on quarks and charged leptons. The electromagnetic interaction is weaker than the strong interaction, but stronger than the weak and gravitational interactions. It is associated with electric and magnetic fields and is responsible for atomic structure, chemical reactions, the attractive and repulsive electromagnetic forces associated with electrically charged or magnetically polarized particles, and all other electromagnetic phenomena.
• noun An instance of this interaction.

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• noun physics the fundamental interaction responsible for the electromagnetic force

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an interaction between charged elementary particles that is intermediate in strength between the strong and weak interactions; mediated by photons