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Each brother tells us a bit about themselves. Can you identify their names?

1:

"I'm the oldest of us, at least to you humans. You all say I'm weaker than my brothers, but my domain is infinite - a concept few comprehend."

2:

"I'm the second in age and the second in might. I'm the most useful brother if I dare say so myself. I travel in various forms all across your globe. I help you to communicate, to see, to eat, and more. But sometimes I kill. I also have infinite domain and am not so pathetic. Don't listen to 1, he's just a rotten apple."

3&4:

(3)"We're fraternal twins" (4) "if you will."

(3)"We work together quite well," (4)"and are clearly the most useful."

(4)"3 is the youngest!"

(3)"Not so, you fool!"

(4)"This age thing is silly,"(3)"but it's all the humans know."

(3)"I'm older. I'm stronger, really by a lot."

(4)"Sadly it's true, a stronger brother there is not"

(4)"I'd say I hold my own -" (3)" Strong you are not. Although without you I'd be lost."

(3)"You humans do well with us," (4)"now we've finally met."

(3)"But you almost used me too 'well'," (4)"something we know you'd regret."

A clue from their father:

"A note from their father, may I help you understand. My boys are all different, sure that's true. But don't let those nuances begin to deceive you. You see my boys can all be described in one, simpler way. This description being the most relevant to me. - Matt."

Notes:

Need 4 answers. I used the word tag, up to 3 of the answers may be two words, but distinctly one name.

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1 Answer 1

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I think they are...

The 4 fundamental forces of Nature. Gravity, Electromagnetism, Weak force and Strong force.

I'm the oldest of us, at least to you humans. You all say I'm weaker than my brothers, but my domain is infinite - a concept few comprehend.

Gravity was discovered first. It is the weakest force of them but matters the most when it comes to range. Like Electromagnetism, its infinite. The other two forces only have a short range.

I'm the second in age and the second in might. I'm the most useful brother if I dare say so myself. I travel in various forms all across your globe. I help you to communicate, to see, to eat, and more. But sometimes I kill. I also have infinite domain and am not so pathetic. Don't listen to 1, he's just a rotten apple.

Electromagnetism was discovered second. It's truly more "useful" than Gravity for daily interactions since without it there would be no global communication at all. It can kill, cause electricity is a part of it, duh. Like said before, Elektromagnetism also has infinite range. The "rotten apple" is a reference to Gravity allegedly being discovered when Newton was hit by an apple.

(3)"We're fraternal twins" (4) "if you will."

(3)"We work together quite well," (4)"and are clearly the most useful."

(4)"3 is the youngest!"

(3)"Not so, you fool!"

(4)"This age thing is silly,"(3)"but it's all the humans know."

(3)"I'm older. I'm stronger, really by a lot."

(4)"Sadly it's true, a stronger brother there is not"

(4)"I'd say I hold my own -" (3)" Strong you are not. Although without you I'd be lost."

(3)"You humans do well with us," (4)"now we've finally met."

(3)"But you almost used me too 'well'," (4)"something we know you'd regret."

3 is the strong force, 4 is the weak force. The last sentence is a reference to our ability to split atoms and creating nuclear weapons.

A clue from their father:

I'm not entirely sure but it might be "matter" speaking and reminding us that it can only exist because of the forces? But it also says "You see my boys can all be described in one". That might be a reference to the Grand Unified Theory (GUT).

Title-Clue: 4 (or 5?) Brothers

It's been theorized that there might be a fifth force out there but there is no definite proof yet. Unexplained discoveries like dark matter/energy indicate the existence of such force. Some believe the "Quintessence" is that force.

All in all, nice riddle!

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    $\begingroup$ I would agree that it's something like this if not this exact thing. Their father's name got me thinking along those same lines. Nice. $\endgroup$
    – MacGyver88
    Feb 27, 2020 at 19:46
  • $\begingroup$ I was going to wait 24 hours, but you got it spot on. The father clue was tricky to try to write. Maybe it should've been a cousin. Originally I was going for abba rhyme scheme too, had to edit for a semblance of making sense though. I was trying to hint at really both things you mention, thinking about it slightly differently, but not worth getting into semantics. No mention of the clue in the title? $\endgroup$
    – TCooper
    Feb 27, 2020 at 22:53
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    $\begingroup$ Well I was lucky I instantly thought about Gravity when I read "infinite". The rest was easy from there. Thanks! (PS: I forgot about the clue in the title, I'll add it in my answer) $\endgroup$ Feb 28, 2020 at 23:33

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