In physics we like to reduce down our description of the mechanics of reality to the simplest possible form. We expect the most fundamental machinery to have the fewest possible moving parts – or free parameters. This is why the standard model of particle physics is considered incomplete. Its equations predict many things with stunning accuracy, but they first require us to tune many mathematical knobs and dials. We need to use physical measurement to fix 19 free parameters like the masses of particles. And then there’s gravity, which doesn’t fit into the standard model at all. So surely there exists a deeper set of cogs and wheels – a theory that brings all observable phenomena into the same mechanical framework. That would be a theory of everything, and this is the great hope of string theory.
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Why strings? What are they made of? How did physicists even come up with this bizarre idea? And what’s all this nonsense of extra dimensions?
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In physics we like to reduce down our description of the mechanics of reality to the simplest possible form. We expect the most fundamental machinery to have the fewest possible moving parts – or free parameters. This is why the standard model of particle physics is considered incomplete. Its equations predict many things with stunning accuracy, but they first require us to tune many mathematical knobs and dials. We need to use physical measurement to fix 19 free parameters like the masses of particles. And then there’s gravity, which doesn’t fit into the standard model at all. So surely there exists a deeper set of cogs and wheels – a theory that brings all observable phenomena into the same mechanical framework. That would be a theory of everything, and this is the great hope of string theory.
Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters:
Big Bang
Justin Lloyd
Anton Lifshits
CoolAsCats
David Nicklas
Fabrice Eap
Juan Benet
Quasar
Dean Fuqua
James Flowers
Mark Rosenthal
Roman Pinchuk
Tambe Barsbay
Vinnie Falco
Hypernova
Chuck Zegar
Dan Harris
Donal Botkin
Edmund Fokschaner
John Hofmann
Jordan Young
Joseph Salomone
Martha Hunt
Matthew O’Connor
Ratfeast
Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters:
Alexander Rodriguez
Alexey Eromenko
Brandon Cook
Brandon Labonte
Daniel Lyons
David Crane
Fabian Olesen
Fauzan Ardhana
Greg Allen
Greg Weiss
Jack Frosch
James Hughes
JJ Bagnell
Jon Folks
Joseph Emison
Josh Thomas
Kevin Warne
Malte Ubl
Mark Vasile
Nathan Leniz
Nicholas Rose
Nick Virtue
Scott Gossett
Shannan Catalano
Shawn Azman
Tommy Mogensen
سلطان الخليفي
