can someone like dumb down the string and unified theories b/c I cant seem to understand what they are...
138134
I can't help with Unified Theory, but here's the way a professor explained string theory to me.\n\nImagine that you have a tightrope, and that an elephant is walking on it.  To that elephant, there is only one dimension - the elephant can move forward, and it can move backwards, but it can only move along that straight line.\n\nNow picture that same tightrope, but instead of an elephant, an ant is walking along it.  Like the elephant, the ant can also move forwards and back along the tightrope.  However, the ant can also walk all the way around the tightrope (apparently ants are good at clinging to things while upside-down).  For the ant, there are two possible dimensions - the forward and back one, and the around one.\n\nString theory is basically the idea that there are more dimensions than we realize.  We as humans are the elephant of the previous example - we see only three dimensions, with a potential 4th in terms of time.  According to string theory, there are ants in the world that can access more than these three or four dimensions that we are aware of.  String theorists are currently trying to prove that this is the case.
48065
I think your mind is already made up. I would guess that you are not interested in hearing from all camps. But lets just look at some of the other scientific theories that have become the dominant accepted theories. Don't they all sound like bunk, especially if you put yourself in the position of someone who is hearing them for the first time?\n\n1. the earth goes around the sun\n2. The planets are bodies like earth\n3. the continents move and collide to make mountains\n4. the magnetic field of the earth flips\n5. heavy things and light things fall at the same rate\n6. there are simple algebraic rules that the orbits of the planets obey\n7. There is evidence for a big bang\n8. stars are not only receding from us on average, but this movement is accelerating\n9. magnetism and electricity are deeply related\n10. matter is made up of tiny pieces \n11. light has no weight but it produces pressure\n12. there are some species with 3 sexes or even 4 sexes\n13. gravity bends light\n14. if you go faster, time slows down and you get shorter, front to back\n15. a cat can be alive and dead at the same time\n16. the vacuum is full of stuff that disappears before you can see it\n17. teleportation has been demonstrated\n18. you can never locate an electron\n19. all creatures contain a list of instructions for how they function inside\n20. human instructions are quite similar to other animal's instructions and even share something in common with the instructions of some plants\n\n\nI could of course go on and on and make a list of thousands of these. They all sound like nonsense, and probably were very outrageous when they were first announced or proposed. Yet they are all accepted as true, or probably true. \n\nSo just based on your own naive intuition and or something someone else told you based on no facts at all, you are willing to believe something like evolution is impossible? Compared to what else is going on in the universe, evolution is NOTHING to get perturbed about. \n\nThe universe is strange.\n\nAs J. B. S. Haldane said, \n\nThe universe is not only stranger than you know, it is stranger than you CAN know.
174570
string theory by it's very nature can never be observed, proven, or tested (see shadengers cat) thus, I would describe it as a faith, not a theory.
589792
M-Theory\n\nThere are an infinite number of alternate realities which are integrating. Space-time distortions are occuring. For those who are clear, the observation and experience of these happenings is breathtaking. For others who are experiencing 'blindly' - to be 'out of phase' will cause confusion and fear.\n\nM-Theory unites the 5 superstring theories. According to M-Theory there are 11 spacial dimensions that exist in parallel with our physical reality. That goes along with the theory of 12 or 12 around 1 yet M-theory is not complete as all expands in reality and consciousness.\n\n      M-theory (sometimes also called U-theory) is a theory of physics, which is believed to incorporate and generalize the various superstring theories. Edward Witten proposed the existence of this physical model at a conference at USC in 1995, explaining a number of previously observed dualities and sparking a flurry of new research in string theory.\n\n      What does M stand for?\n\n      When Witten named M-theory, he did not specify what the "M" stood for, presumably because he did not feel he had the right to name a theory which he had not been able to fully describe. According to Witten himself, "'M' stands for 'Magic,' 'Mystery' or 'Membrane,' depending on your taste." Also suggested, has been 'Matrix' and 'Mother of all theories'. Cynics have noted that the M might be an upside down "W", standing for Witten. Others have suggested that for now, the "M" in M-theory should stand for Missing or Murky.\n\n      The name M-theory is slightly ambiguous. It can be used to refer to both the particular eleven-dimensional theory which Witten first proposed, or it can be used to refer to a kind of Uber theory which looks in various limits like the various string theories. Ashoke Sen has suggested that more general theory could go by the name U-theory, which might stand for Ur, or Uber, or Ultimate, or Underlying, or perhaps Unified. (It might also stand for U-duality, which is both a reference to Sen's own work and a kind of particle physics pun.) M-theory in the following descriptions refers to the more general theory, and will be specified when used in its more limited sense.\n\nIf you recall, I have written that the 'M' and the 'W' reverse at the end of time. Some see it as Man and Woman. They will rotate 180 [9] degrees - a 'U'. The 'M' and the 'W' can also be brought together - their ends meeting - then rotated 90 [9] degrees to form an hourglass. The possibilities are endless and will be studied until the end of time.\n\n      M-theory is not complete. It can be applied in many situations (usually by exploiting string theoretic dualities), but the full theory is not yet known. The theory of electromagnetism was also in such a state in the mid-19th century. There were separate theories for electricity and magnetism, and although they were known to be related, it was not clear until Maxwell published his equations just what the relationship was. Witten has suggested that a general formulation will probably require the development of new mathematical language.\n\n      It was shown in the early 1990s that the various superstring theories were related by dualities, which allowed physicists to relate the description of an object in one string theory to the description of a different object in another theory. These relationships imply that each of the string theories is a different aspect of a single underlying theory, which has been named "M-theory".\n\n      More from Wikipedia \n\nM-Theory was the underlying theme in the film, What the Bleep!\n\nM-Theory by George Minaya\n\nThe merging of dimensions integrates your consciousness and expands your awareness to the next level of understanding which will be followed by the merging of your soul aspects with other realities in which it experien
217254
You think you suddenly solved the Unified Theory with the electrical equals gravitational concept? With what education? If you are asking for confirmation here in this forum, you need a bit more education, and a few dozen good peers to discuss your ideas.
326140
Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
269243
Unified field theory is an attempt to unify all the fundamental forces and the interactions between elementary particles into a single theoretical framework. The term was coined by Einstein who attempted to reconcile the general theory of relativity with electromagnetism in a single field theory. \n\nIn physics, M-theory (sometimes also called U-theory) is put forward as the master theory that unites the five superstring theories. Edward Witten of Princeton University proposed the existence of this physical model at a conference at USC in 1995, explaining a number of previously observed dualities and sparking a flurry of new research in string theory, called the second superstring revolution.\n\nIn the early 1990s, it was shown that the various superstring theories were related by dualities, which allowed physicists to relate the description of an object in one string theory to the description of a different object in another theory. These relationships imply that each of the string theories is a different aspect of a single underlying theory, proposed by Witten, and named "M-theory".\n\nM-theory is not complete as yet [Greene-TFOTC-chapter 13]. It can be applied in many situations (usually by exploiting string theoretic dualities). The theory of electromagnetism was also in such a state in the mid-19th century; there were separate theories for electricity and magnetism and, although they were known to be related, the exact relationship was not clear until James Clerk Maxwell published his equations. Witten has suggested that a general formulation of M-theory will probably require the development of new mathematical language.
542357
It's a tough concept to grasp. Here are some good explainations:\n\n\nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/oct98/909712896.Ph.r.html\nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar97/859247407.Ev.r.html\nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov99/942797163.Gb.r.html
282762
Hmm. I spoke to your uncle Morty yesterday, and I think you might be looking in the wrong direction...\n\nMorty DEFFINITELY has some explaining to do.
120746
there can't be. "uni-" means one (imagine having different UNIforms for a team). there IS, however, the theory of multiverses, that you might be interested in searching for and having a read about.
250072
string theory is realy a piece of genius it came uponly since v found so many irregularities in the quantum gravity theory of einstein and others \n to no the basics u bettter read some god books onthe topic\n           i can only say that by far it is a great piece of work and only if v had better particle acc v could hav proved that the theory is correct (or wrong )\n     also rear about the m-theory if u can
349156
each theory is immensely successful in its particular area to about one part in ten to the fourteen it may be that we need separate theories or who knows someone may produce a unified theory although string theory hasn't done it yet (and may never)
185309
Everything (atoms and sub atomic particles) is made of strings. What something is (which atom) is determined by how fast and in what way the strings vibrate.\n\nIt picks up where quantum theory leaves off, there are actually 5 or six string theories. recently they have been combined into "M theory"\n\nThe whole thing "sounds" really stupid.. but it seems to be how it is.\n\n\n(it does not have anything to do with genetics, it does have relevance to alternate realities but does not limit them to 7. for more on this, please ask another question.)\n\nps. the guitar explanation below is a good summary.
513911
it's just a summary..dont be afraid. its basically the way you understand the concept.maybe you can throw in your own little example.
109633
String theory? I know bout that it is the single universal theory of everything the bonds together quantum mechanics and the theory of relativety.  It is also used to combine the 4 forces of gravity, electro-magnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear.  A string is a subdivision partical that makes up a quark. 3 quarks make up protons/nuetrons/electrons. and those make up atoms.  PBS has a great special on it called the theory of everything.
495217
I must be really dumb. Either that or I have been stuck it a closet for too long. \n\nI sure hope an expert comes by to answer your question, because it is gobbldygook to me, sorry!
608102
It hasn't been completely accepted, but it is widely believed to be the correct direction to go.  They are still trimming the fat, and many of the theories will never be tested as we can not experience some things that occur in the extra dimensions that we can not see, according to string theory.  (Theory is not accepted as fact, its a theory)