[chris (OP)]

I was asked by someone recently (thanks Kim in South Africa!) what is String Theory and why is it useful. I have to admit that this is not my strong point! What, in a nutshell, is the simple answer?

Chris

[dentstudent]

This is going to be a useful thread.

[ScientificBoysClub]

Hi Chris ,

String theory is Nothing but The theory of Everything or it's also known as M-theory ..

In string theory Physicist study the following to explain everything in nature.

1. Strong nuclear force
(force between Proton and neutron  responsible to hold or bind together in an atom)

Quantum Mechanics !!

 
2. weak nuclear force
( this is weak unable to hold or bind particles together... Example- after Nuclear bomb explosion .. we can find this force even now !!! after Hiroshima Nagasaki event )

Quantum Mechanics !!


3. Gravitational force
(or General theory of Relativity Space and time)

4. Electromagnetic force
( nothing but study of light )

 

The above are 4 fundamental forces of nature. The aim of string theory is to explain everything in Nature like Big bang or origin and End of our Universe .. (fate of Universe )

Physicist always trying to find out Ultimate theory of everything. By uniting all the above forces !!

And also string theory explains a lot about Higher Dimensions ..

Space is 3d along with time 1d ... so, we live in 4d world according to Einstein..

But string theory says we live in 12 Dimensions !! ( As Dr.Michio Kaku (says in his book hyperspace )Humans are not yet evolved their brains to imagine higher dimensions not more than 4d (this is the reason why I say that Humans not yet evolved fully to do this things )   

so, String Theory is the Ultimate Theory Of Everything !!

Man coolest things about u is that u like Physics and Biology too ( Man u rock !! )

Ok !! so, if u want to know More please spend some time in watching Awesome documentary called Elegant Universe ..

You can watch it for free in YouTube !!

here r some links !!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=858D511D89A6A6E8&search_query=elegant+universe

this is the play list of Elegant Universe  !! You can know more !!

[JP]

The point of string theory is pretty much as ScientificBoysClub says, to unify all the fundamental forces under one theory, which will help to explain the first moments of the universe, where gravity becomes important on the quantum scale, or in objects like black holes, where gravitational singularities occur in general relativity.  Since it explains how all the fundamental forces work, it should also explain how the universe evolved from its initial state to what we see today. 

Its usefulness or even correctness is up for debate.  In its current incarnation, it doesn't seem to be experimentally testable (at least not until our particle accelerators become hugely more powerful than even the LHC is).  Another issue is that it seems to predict an infinity of universes with different fundamental parameters, with no real explanation of why our particular universe came to be. 

[techmatt]

The short simple answer is..

A way to get Quantum Mechanics and  General theory of Relativity work together nicely. Fundamentally, the cannot co exist but they do.

[Soul Surfer]

Basic particle theories assume point particles for simplicity. However it is obvious that geometrical points while being simple and useful mathematically must fail under extreme conditions because everything gallops off to infinity and you must avoid the awkward points.  A more truly physical solution must allow for a finite size for everything.

To go to full three (or more)dimensional objects in would be very difficult because there is no idea what shape you should use so a simpler approach was needed.

String theory was the first attempt to create reasonably simple objects With a single dimension length that could be explored  this was eventually expanded to include many dimensional movements effectively creating multidimensional objects.  however the problems are that there are so many plausible alternatives it is very difficult to know which is the most likely.

Unfortunately the energies at which the string effects are likely to be observed are so great that experiments are unlikely ever to be able to reveal them and a more indirect approach may be needed

[demsenate2006]

I am sorry that no one has really read your question to give you the answer that you request. Everything is made and tied together by one long string; not separate strings within each atom. It helps tie together many things including quantum entanglement.

Look at it like this:

Matter - Molecules - atoms - quarks - string

I wish people would quit talking about Bing Bang which has been disproven over 30 years ago. Many little bangs yes. One big bang no. Totally ludicrous!   

[Bored chemist]

I am sorry that no one has really read your question to give you the answer that you request. Everything is made and tied together by one long string; not separate strings within each atom. It helps tie together many things including quantum entanglement.

Look at it like this:

Matter - Molecules - atoms - quarks - string

I wish people would quit talking about Bing Bang which has been disproven over 30 years ago. Many little bangs yes. One big bang no. Totally ludicrous!  

Simply wrong.

[techmatt]

Ok !! so, if u want to know More please spend some time in watching Awesome documentary called Elegant Universe ..
You can watch it for free in YouTube !!
here r some links !!
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=858D511D89A6A6E8&search_query=elegant+universe [nofollow]
this is the play list of Elegant Universe  !! You can know more !!

I had watched that series, it is how I came up with the simplest although trivial answer

[lyner]

This is going to be a useful thread.

Was that intended as a pun?

[dentstudent]

This is going to be a useful thread.

Was that intended as a pun?

Er, yes. Should I leave the room?

[Chemistry4me]

This is going to be a useful thread.

Was that intended as a pun?

That took a while to register! []