![]() Nevertheless, string theory proved encouragingly effective - at a theoretical level - to explain both the very small and the incredibly large, and so it began to dominate the study of fundamental physics at universities through the world. To the general public, of course, all this is faintly baffling. Unfortunately, to make their equations work, scientists had to add another six dimensions to the universe: four were not enough, though we cannot see these extra dimensions because they are so tightly crumpled up that they are invisible, it was argued. ![]() 'You can think of the universe as a symphony or a song - for both are made up of notes produced by strings vibrating in particular ways,' said Professor Michael Green of Cambridge University. And another becomes one of the carriers of the force of gravity. Another, vibrating differently, becomes a neutron. A string that vibrates one way becomes an electron. ![]() Matter is not made up of small dot-like entities such as neutrons or quarks, they claimed, but of incredibly small threads of energy that vibrate. Then, in the Eighties, a group of scientists created string theory. Physicists have no unified code - a prospect that upset Einstein so much that he spent his last 20 years hunting, fruitlessly, for a unified theory of everything. By comparison, biologists have Darwin's theory of natural selection to explain living things, big and small, from whales to bacteria. Quantum physics cannot explain massive things and relativity cannot account for little ones. Last century, they created quantum mechanics to explain how tiny things - atoms and electrons - behave, while Einstein produced his theory of general relativity to account for the behaviour of huge objects such as galaxies.īoth theories work well - but they are incompatible. Suddenly string theory is tying scientists in knots - although the idea's origins are innocuous enough, and can be traced to physicists' attempts to get out of an intellectual impasse. It has already led to many major breakthroughs in mathematics and physics, they say. However, string theory proponents - who also include several Nobel prize winners - have denounced the criticisms and robustly defended their field. Far from providing mankind with the answers to the mystery of the cosmos, the theory is bogus, they claim.Īs one scientist put it: 'The uncritical promotion of string theory is now damaging science.' Two new books published in America question its very basis.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |