The Power of Spaghetti!

As you may have guessed from my last post, I am going to take a stab at string theory. What does this have to do with astronomy? Well, a huge part of Astronomy is gravity..... obvious really.... But can anyone really explain it? Why is gravity such a weak force and how can we unify it with the other forces?

String theory is the idea that everything ever created is composed of tiny vibrating strings. These strings are what make up, well, everything, from quarks all the way to super-massive Black Holes.

Lets look at a guitar, if you strum it one way you will get one sound, if you strum it a different way you will get a different sound. Well, these strings work the same way. Their frequencies determine how they will behave, different frequency means different outcome, just like a guitar.

But why the heck is this important?! Who cares a bout a few pieces of string, why is this foolishness relevant?! Well There are two general  theories that explain, well, everything. There is Einsteins Theory of General Relativity which explains the world of the really large and there is Quantum Mechanics which explain the world of the really small. Now if we look at the four fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and gravity). Quantum mechanics explained the interactions of the nuclear forces and electromagnetics while relativity explain gravity. However, these could not combine! Essentially gravity is the one force we cannot explain.

Scientists needed a way to bring these theories together and somehow master gravity. After years of debate and study, String Theory was born.


But mrAstrowhat, you still haven't explained how String theory unifies all the forces.....

Well technically it doesn't...... There were still problems occurring with string theory, nothing would add up and by this time there were also five different versions of String Theory.

There is something we must understand before moving forward, we can perceive a 4-dimensional world containing three spacial dimensions and 1 dimension of time. However there are more dimensions that we cannot see. I cannot really explain these other dimensions for it is near impossible to really grasp their existence at all. But anywho, String Theory stated that there were 10 dimensions to work with.

So why wasn't this adding up? I sure don't know! Why were there five different solutions? I do know! And so will you! In my next blog for this one is getting rather hefty!

But before I go I feel as if I should express my feelings of the class again. It has still yet to disappoint me. I find every class to be interesting and even though I have spent years researching my hobby of astronomy it is a whole new experience being taught it by a professional.
I have my constellation testing coming up, I have been sitting outside at night multiple times, braving the bitter cold, and readying myself! Except there is one thing...... Trees and streetlights, they are now the bane of my astronomical existence! Certain constellations move below the treeline and out of view as the night goes on...... Either that or I really need to rethink my knowledge of constellation positioning!

-MrAstrowhat