Residual strong interactions between the color-charge neutral
hadrons are responsible for the "strong nuclear force" -- the force
that binds protons and neutrons together to form nuclei. All of modern
particle physics was discovered in the effort to understand this
force!
Residual strong interactions also are responsible for nuclear
fission and fusion processes and for the most rapid
decay
processes of many hadrons.
These residual strong interactions have short range. They occur via
exchange of
mesons,
or because two hadrons come close enough together that they overlap
and constituents of one hadron can directly feel forces from
constituents of the other hadron.
