Freaky Fzx Friday - Gluons Hold the World Together

There are these tiny particles with ridiculous properties.  They are "virtual particles" and like virtual reality they simulate a real situation.  But Wikipedia puts it best - or in the most complicated manner imaginable:

"In physics, a virtual particle is an explanatory conceptual entity found in mathematical calculations in quantum field theory. It visualizes, usually in perturbation theory, mathematical terms that have some appearance of representing particles inside a subatomic process such as a collision. Virtual particles, however, do not appear directly amongst the observable and detectable input and output quantities of these calculations, which refer only to actual, as distinct from virtual, particles. Virtual particle terms correspond to notional "particles" that are said to be "off mass shell". For example, they can progress backwards in time, or travel faster than light."

Here's a video on gluons and other things that hold the universe together.

That's what happens when you get deep into quantum physics.