string theory
In: Physics
String theory is a concept in physics that suggests the basic building blocks of the universe aren’t tiny particles like atoms, but instead extremely small, vibrating strings of energy. These strings can vibrate in different ways, and their vibrations determine the properties of the particles, such as their mass and charge.
The theory tries to unify all the fundamental forces of nature, including gravity, into one framework. To make the math work, string theory proposes that there are more than the three dimensions we see (length, width, height); it suggests there could be as many as 10 or 11 dimensions, but most of them are hidden from us.
In short, string theory is an attempt to explain everything in the universe by imagining that at the smallest level, everything is made up of tiny vibrating strings.
I’m no expert but from memory. Every sub atomic particle is made of tiny vibrating strings that, with different angles behave in the same way as electrons, quarks etc. it all boils down to probabilities. Strings can also be massive potentially the size of a universe.
The multiverse/timelines/dimensions are all connected (there’s no consensus on how or what connects us/it/them) the leading theory is frequency (sound wave) reactive/connected particles.
Everything is connected and what is connected isn’t/aren’t on parallel lines, it’s a bowl of spaghetti. Intersecting at different points in time.
It’s hard to explain because a good portion of it is just an idea.
TLDR – everything is connected somehow, no one knows how, but they think particles talk to each other across time/space/dimensions through frequencies or gravity
I don’t think it’s possible to really eli5 this, but at its most basic the idea is that instead of being a small point, particles are made of loops of string. These strings vibrate, and the patterns in their vibrations determine what kind of particle they are. A rough analogy is that it’s like when you pluck a guitar string, how it vibrates determines the note we hear.
You can take this idea and use it to describe the particles we know of, and more importantly particles we suspect exist like the graviton, which is to gravity what a photon is to light. The catch (one of many) is that these strings need to vibrate in more than three dimensions of space to explain the properties we observe.
This is the part where ELI5 kind of falls apart, and we get into the handwavey parts of the explanation. Given that we can only observe three dimensions of space, there must be something very different about the other 8 dimensions of space. The current string theories suggest that they are too small for us to observe, and that means they are extremely small given the precision we can measure at.
With that said, why string theory is probably easier to ELI5. We have two very successful models of the universe, general relativity and quantum mechanics, but trying to combine them leads to neither of them working. So humanity has spent almost a century looking for a grand unified theory. For that century long stretch of time, the greatest human minds have wrestled with the issue, and basically came up empty handed.
String theory is meant to bridge that gap, but as a layman who has followed it for a few decades, in my completely unqualified opinion, it’s not really doing a great job. It hasn’t made any predictions that disagree with our current models that we can test. That lack of falsifiability makes it dangerously close to pseudo science.
[deleted]
Latest Answers