Could Someone Explain, In Really Simple Terms...

64Ivy · #1 01/27/2006, 04:35 PM

...string theory? Thanks.

jgoodrich71 · #2 01/27/2006, 04:40 PM

Ok, I got this one.

When a string hangs out your dog's butt, my theory is that he probably ate something he shouldn't have.

beerguy · #3 01/27/2006, 04:48 PM

Here you go....

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

beerguy · #4 01/27/2006, 04:49 PM

I've got it on DVD.....it puts my wife and kid to sleep in about 8 minutes.

DJ88© · #5 01/27/2006, 04:55 PM

How is the DVD Doug?

I am pretty sure I have caught that one on TV and enjoyed it. can't really remember if that was the one tho.

beerguy · #6 01/27/2006, 04:57 PM

You can watch all 3 hours on the weblink that I posted. It's not exactly Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom but it's pretty cool if you like physics.

bkwudzjeep · #7 01/27/2006, 04:58 PM

It is kind of boring but interesting at the same time. The version I have heard mentions that we see most thing being spherical in nature (planets, atoms, etc.) and that if things were all formed from spheres or ball shaped items, things in the universe should not move as smoothly as they do.

If you take a box and fill it to the top with oranges you will have a bumpy surface. Even if they follow perfect lines on the surface, if you tried to roll something across the top it would be "bumpy" or not smooth.
Take the same box and put strings strung from end to the other and roll something across it, it moves smoothly.

Ultimately, I think it has something to do with how the smallest particle known should be some type of string shape or formation.

Well, that's at least my understanding.......

DJ88© · #8 01/27/2006, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by beerguy
You can watch all 3 hours on the weblink that I posted. It's not exactly Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom but it's pretty cool if you like physics.

I may have to look into getting that one. Used to try and read up as much as I could understand at one point in time. Then I went back to school and my brain hasn't wanted to read much beyond the cartoon, Get Fuzzy, since then.

lol

64Ivy · #9 01/27/2006, 10:57 PM

Okay, now Get Fuzzy I can understand. Most of the time.

And thanks for the link, BG. Understand it or not, any theory that'll put the family to sleep in 8 minutes I'll subscribe to.

Thurge · #10 01/28/2006, 03:03 AM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055...books&v=glance The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking

Its been a few years since I read it and its such a fantastical theory its a little hard for my puny mind to fully comprehend, but essentially, at infintesmially small sub atomic level, matter isn't matter at all, but the resonance of the vibrations of infininantly long and thin strings.

I guess another much simpler way of looking at is if you are familiar with Orson Scott Card's, Ender series, with its phylotic threads linking the universe instantly.

yodawagon · #11 01/28/2006, 03:18 AM

wow.....you guys are nerds. a hobby is a hobby is guess. to each his own.

EmergencyDpt · #12 01/28/2006, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yodawagon
wow.....you guys are nerds. a hobby is a hobby is guess. to each his own.

The day someone with yoda as his avatar calls a fellow reefer a nerd ...
Whyeyeodda!

wizardgus® · #13 01/28/2006, 07:35 AM

Yoda and a mechanic from Minnesota no less. Sheesh!

My thoughts on it are that either string theory has validity or negative zero exists at the far side of the universe. If all things are indeed round then the number line must also describe a circle. The arc would be imperceptibly small, too small for us to observe, but it would have to eventually meet at negative zero. I was working out how the laws of mathematics would operate there, but then I got tired.

kfisc · #14 01/28/2006, 07:49 AM

In 10 dimensions, no less. Hey, you guys 'wanna buy a telescope??

petermai · #15 01/28/2006, 08:59 AM

string theory is created in hope to explain the large(general relativity) and the small(quantum mechanics) in one unifide theory. according to the theory, strings are the smallest entity of reality, smaller than all sub-atomic particles. the string itself is finite in length but are entangled into "calabi yau" shapes. there are thousands of possibilities for the calabi yau shapes and i believe only a few would be fit to describe our reality. theoretically speaking, the different frequencies of vibrations of the strings would relate to what sort of "particles" they are." at different vibration the string would relate to particles we now know of as muons, gluons, neutrinons, strange, charm, quarks, electrons and etc.

in a sense, it is an alternative to the quantum gravity theory that also tries to combine Einstein's relativity to that of quantum mechanics. string theory to me...well i can't say i'm a skeptic but at the moment it proves nothing but like some old man in the past said, "before it is fully know, it is philosophy. when it is known, it is no longer philosophy, but it is now a science."

double major...bio-chem(premed)/physics. can't help it, i'm a nerd master!

if you want more info, read "the elegant universe" by brian green.

petermai · #16 01/28/2006, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wizardgus
Yoda and a mechanic from Minnesota no less. Sheesh!

My thoughts on it are that either string theory has validity or negative zero exists at the far side of the universe. If all things are indeed round then the number line must also describe a circle. The arc would be imperceptibly small, too small for us to observe, but it would have to eventually meet at negative zero. I was working out how the laws of mathematics would operate there, but then I got tired.

my proffesor/friend once told me after i asked him about what would happen at the speed of light according to the relativistic equation(s) and he told me..."inside of a black hole is where god is divided by zero."

wizardgus® · #17 01/28/2006, 09:42 AM

I like that! I've always said you might as well have some fun with your brain while your alive. It's just going to run out of your ears after your dead anyway.

And the philosophy part,

It has long been my contention that it was proof-envy of philosophy by members of the core sciences that gave rise to quantum mechanics. No more long hard hours in the lab trying to prove something. "If we actually try to observe this it ceases to exist." Kant would've been proud to call that his own.

joeychitwood · #18 01/28/2006, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 64Ivy
......string theory? Thanks.

After which, perhaps, someone could explain women and marriage.

petermai · #19 01/28/2006, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wizardgus
I like that! I've always said you might as well have some fun with your brain while your alive. It's just going to run out of your ears after your dead anyway.

And the philosophy part, It has long been my contention that it was proof-envy of philosophy by members of the core sciences that gave rise to quantum mechanics. No more long hard hours in the lab trying to prove something. "If we actually try to observe this it ceases to exist." Kant would've been proud to call that his own.

have fun? i can't live without it! dad always tells me...when you study, you shouldn't think about playing. but when you're playing, you shouldn't thinking about studying. i have the best of both world in moderation...

as for fun...after i'm done with all of my work. i do trackdays with my RC51 during spring/summer. catch and release fly fishing along the sac river up to truckee during early spring. winter...snowboarding. and summer vacation...i'd always plan a back packing trip to some far off land...i've done south-east asia(vietnam, cambodia, and thailand). this coming summer, it's going to be either china or europe depending on how much money goes into my tank.

there's too many things i do for fun to list, haha.

joeychitwood,

people tell me i understand too much for my age but i've never grasp the concept of women, marriage, and handbags...and truth be known, i don't think i ever will...

btw, i thank you for your reply/suggestion in the "ask a doctor" thread

Wolverine · #20 01/28/2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 64Ivy
...string theory? Thanks.

Based on what I've read of it, no. Every time I try to learn the basics of it, I end up more confused than I was before.

Dave

DJ88© · #21 01/28/2006, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wolverine
Based on what I've read of it, no. Every time I try to learn the basics of it, I end up more confused than I was before.

Dave

You know that somewhere in there, not that far away really, is a joke. and a darned funny one....

Something to do with the instructions on a box of KD and Daves attempts at string theory..

64Ivy · #22 01/29/2006, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by joeychitwood
After which, perhaps, someone could explain women and marriage.

Interestingly, it is very similar to the string theory except everything is held together by a rope.

joeychitwood · #23 01/29/2006, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 64Ivy
Interestingly, it is very similar to the string theory except everything is held together by a rope.

At the end of which most of us cling....

clavery · #24 01/29/2006, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 64Ivy
Interestingly, it is very similar to the string theory except everything is held together by a rope.

No, no, no. You have it all wrong. It is held together by shoes!!!!!

Blindmelonbob · #25 01/29/2006, 11:48 PM

Quote:

I guess another much simpler way of looking at is if you are familiar with Orson Scott Card's, Ender series, with its phylotic threads linking the universe instantly. [/B]

_Ender's Game_ was great. Card was fairly visionary.

Anybody know why they call it a G-string?