Zealot2120
Smash Lord
Here is an article I wrote for my school newspaper about String Theory, a quantum physics conecpt. I tried as hard as I could to make it conprehensible for the average person, but some science background is definately needed.
The universe is perhaps much stranger than we perceive it. Since the days of Einstein, physicists have been painting more abstract and nonintuitive pictures of our universe. One major brush stroke that has been used in this painting is string theory, otherwise known as the “theory of everything”.
Right now your idea of an electron is probably a little dot that circles around a nuclear in an atom, like it is found in chemistry text books. String theory says that if you were to look at an electron with a futuristic super microscope, you would not see a single point, but a string. The strings are so small, 10^-33 cm, (known as the Planck length, the smallest length possible physically possible), that they look and act as single points. The mathematics behind this theory is so beautiful that many physicists say if it proves to be wrong, then God made a big mistake when he created the universe.
Electrons are not the only particles that are actually strings; the theory goes on to say that all atomic particles are actually strings. There are many known particles today, including what are known as neutrinos, quarks, photons and gluons. All of these particles are made of strings, despite the fact there is only one type of string.
In order to understand this, I’ll draw the common analogy of music. Imagine these strings are like violin strings. When you pluck the violin string, it vibrates at a certain frequency to create the note A. Plucking it again can create a different frequency, perhaps a B. In the same way, plucking a string would cause it to vibrate at a certain frequency to make a quark, and another frequency would make a photon.
What string theory does is to combines the two main theories used in describing the universe: Einstein’s General Relativity and quantum theory. There have been many other attempts to create a unified theory, but they failed. With most single point particle theories, one problem that arises is infinite gravity. Infinities in science are huge signs screaming “something is wrong!”. String theory eliminates these infinites.
The String theory equation describes the microscopic world perfectly, but only under one condition: you make absolutely no changes to the equation. Even the slightest change ruins the beauty of the theory. This presents a problem because string theory only works in ten dimensions, and we can only observe three: length, width, and height. Is it possible that we live in universe with ten dimensions? Physicists have an explanation.
Think of a plastic straw. If you were to cut it along the length, it has two dimensions: length and width. However, a straw curves into itself to make a tube, and if you looked at it from a far enough distance, you would see the straw as only having length. By curling up an object and looking at it from a far enough distance, one of it’s dimensions are eliminated. Physicists say, therefore, the reason we cannot see seven of the ten dimensions is because they curved upon themselves and were crunched to such a small size that we only perceive the three.
To truly understand the consequence of such a reality, think about pac-man. Pac-man lives in a two-dimensional world where he can only travel through length and width. He is being chased by a red monster by the name of Blinky. Just before Blinky manages to go in for the kill, Pac-man grabs a giant dot, becomes stronger and eats Blinky. Blinky turns into a pair of eyes and travels into the centre, where he becomes trapped in the “cage”, which is really just a square. However, Blinky is a physicist monster, and manages to get into the third dimension. Just as we can walk over a line drawn on the ground, Blinky can now hover over all the lines on the screen. The entire maze that keeps all the monsters contained can no longer hold Blinky. He can go wherever he pleases. Also, Pac-man and all the other monsters can no longer see Blinky, as they are unable to look up that single millimetre. They can’t even comprehend the idea of looking up. To them, Blinky is invisible.
If a human were somehow to gain access to the fourth dimension, just like Blinky to the third, they too would become invisible, and no jail cell in the world could hold them; they could easily walk through walls.
It is amazing to think of the universe we live in to consist of ten dimensions, and yet it is part of mainstream physics. It is uncommon to find a physicist today who does not believe that the answer to the universe, and the path to the Ultimate Theory of Everything is not found in string theory.
The universe is perhaps much stranger than we perceive it. Since the days of Einstein, physicists have been painting more abstract and nonintuitive pictures of our universe. One major brush stroke that has been used in this painting is string theory, otherwise known as the “theory of everything”.
Right now your idea of an electron is probably a little dot that circles around a nuclear in an atom, like it is found in chemistry text books. String theory says that if you were to look at an electron with a futuristic super microscope, you would not see a single point, but a string. The strings are so small, 10^-33 cm, (known as the Planck length, the smallest length possible physically possible), that they look and act as single points. The mathematics behind this theory is so beautiful that many physicists say if it proves to be wrong, then God made a big mistake when he created the universe.
Electrons are not the only particles that are actually strings; the theory goes on to say that all atomic particles are actually strings. There are many known particles today, including what are known as neutrinos, quarks, photons and gluons. All of these particles are made of strings, despite the fact there is only one type of string.
In order to understand this, I’ll draw the common analogy of music. Imagine these strings are like violin strings. When you pluck the violin string, it vibrates at a certain frequency to create the note A. Plucking it again can create a different frequency, perhaps a B. In the same way, plucking a string would cause it to vibrate at a certain frequency to make a quark, and another frequency would make a photon.
What string theory does is to combines the two main theories used in describing the universe: Einstein’s General Relativity and quantum theory. There have been many other attempts to create a unified theory, but they failed. With most single point particle theories, one problem that arises is infinite gravity. Infinities in science are huge signs screaming “something is wrong!”. String theory eliminates these infinites.
The String theory equation describes the microscopic world perfectly, but only under one condition: you make absolutely no changes to the equation. Even the slightest change ruins the beauty of the theory. This presents a problem because string theory only works in ten dimensions, and we can only observe three: length, width, and height. Is it possible that we live in universe with ten dimensions? Physicists have an explanation.
Think of a plastic straw. If you were to cut it along the length, it has two dimensions: length and width. However, a straw curves into itself to make a tube, and if you looked at it from a far enough distance, you would see the straw as only having length. By curling up an object and looking at it from a far enough distance, one of it’s dimensions are eliminated. Physicists say, therefore, the reason we cannot see seven of the ten dimensions is because they curved upon themselves and were crunched to such a small size that we only perceive the three.
To truly understand the consequence of such a reality, think about pac-man. Pac-man lives in a two-dimensional world where he can only travel through length and width. He is being chased by a red monster by the name of Blinky. Just before Blinky manages to go in for the kill, Pac-man grabs a giant dot, becomes stronger and eats Blinky. Blinky turns into a pair of eyes and travels into the centre, where he becomes trapped in the “cage”, which is really just a square. However, Blinky is a physicist monster, and manages to get into the third dimension. Just as we can walk over a line drawn on the ground, Blinky can now hover over all the lines on the screen. The entire maze that keeps all the monsters contained can no longer hold Blinky. He can go wherever he pleases. Also, Pac-man and all the other monsters can no longer see Blinky, as they are unable to look up that single millimetre. They can’t even comprehend the idea of looking up. To them, Blinky is invisible.
If a human were somehow to gain access to the fourth dimension, just like Blinky to the third, they too would become invisible, and no jail cell in the world could hold them; they could easily walk through walls.
It is amazing to think of the universe we live in to consist of ten dimensions, and yet it is part of mainstream physics. It is uncommon to find a physicist today who does not believe that the answer to the universe, and the path to the Ultimate Theory of Everything is not found in string theory.
