String Theory ?

The birth of String Theory finally took hold in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Until then, the universe was thought to be composed of tiny particles or points of mass. String Theory completely reshaped this view of reality by stating that hidden beneath the smallest components of matter are tiny vibrating strands of energy known as strings. These strings are responsible for making up everything in the entire universe. Similar to the strings on a guitar, they can be composed of many different frequencies that determine the type of particle the string is representing. For example, the frequency of a force would be very different than that of a particle of mass. Because the universe is infinitely complex, there are an infinite number of frequencies that strings can possess. This theory makes a shift in our philosophy of math/science from a study of objects to relationships. With literally everything essentially being made of strings, the universe can be thought of as a grand symphony. Such an unorthodox way of seeing the universe should have the mathematics to back it up. Early stages in the development of the theory would give rise to many mathematical anomalies and unexplainable inconsistencies. At one point five very similar but different theories described String Theory. Eventually one of Einstein’s successors, Ed Whitten, narrowed these five theories into a single theory that he called M-Theory. Assuming this theory, many things people regard as science-fiction in fact exists and other inconceivable notions are actually predicted. Mass-less particles, objects that can exceed the speed of light, multiple dimension, and parallel universes should be enough to get a feel for a universe that most would label a stoners’ pipe dream. In order to take such a theory serious, one must truly have an open mind to a world of limitless possibilities. Concepts such as our Cartesian world, consisting of the three know dimensions (fourth being time), are suddenly being reexamined. Redefining the concept of dimension by integrating all independent directions (sometimes referred to as degrees of freedom) conceivable, reveals a hidden world in which one can move beyond left-right, up-down, and forward-backward with respect to time. All these things and much more may one day be accepted as fact provided that the appropriate experiments currently taking place yield definitive answers supported by data. As we speak, teams of scientists in the U.S. and Europe are competing to develop underground particle accelerators capable of firing protons the speed of light in order to create collisions of great magnitude. The underground atom smasher in Illinois has approximately a four mile track and an even larger one is under construction in Europe. What scientists are seeking is the existence of gravitons, sparticles, or any of the bizarre entities required for the mathematics of String Theory to hold strong. Huge leaps must still be made before String Theory can be labeled as science or philosophy. I myself believe that science and math will continue advancing and eventually find answers to some of life’s ultimate questions. Because this is such an in depth topic it is difficult to explain all of the many components necessary for one to make an unbiased conclusion based only off a brief summary. In order to get a much better visualization of String Theory, I would recommend watching the NOVA video clips that I used as a primary source for writing this blog. The videos are broken down into a series of clips and can be found by going to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs/int_phys.html and clicking the program titled The Elegant Universe.