Prepare to have your perception of the universe change as we embark on a journey to
explore an idea that could possibly unite all of physics and perhaps our understanding of
what is real; an idea that challenges our understanding of the fundamental nature of
existence.
Let’s start our journey by envisioning a tree with apples, our job is to find out what that apple
is made up of. To do this we need to imagine that we have the most powerful microscope
that can possibly exist. So now that we have the microscope let’s go through what the apple
is made up of in order of magnitude; so we would see that the apple is made up by countless
tissues, made up of cells which are made up of organelles, which are made up of
macromolecules which are made up of molecules which are made up of elements which are
made up of atoms. By this point we reached a magnification of almost 10 million, meaning
that we had to enlarge the apple 10 million times to see an atom in millimeters. But it does
not end here, we know that atoms have protons and neutrons which make up nuclei and
they have even smaller particles called electrons orbiting around them. Now let’s picture a
proton to the size of our hands. We would see even smaller particles called quarks. By this
point if we were to enlarge all the quarks in a marble to the size of a baseball, we would get
an object the size of a small asteroid.
Now particles like quarks are called elementary particles, and scientists know that they exist,
but the question is, what does a particle look like and what are they made up of? To
understand this question we need to understand that in quantum physics we can’t really
determine the exact location of a particle, and this is very important, so important that it has
its own name, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The way scientists study this particles
then is by assuming that every particle was a point in the universe, and each point had its
own attributes so that it would now be possible to calculate interactions between particles,
and this solved many problems thus all standard models in physics are built on it because it
can predicts lots of things very well. And thanks to this model not only we have a better
picture of how the universe looks like, but we also achieved many scientific milestones, like
maglev trains to travel faster, hadron therapy to treat cancer or MRI scans for medical
imaging and even the same microscope we were talking about before, is powered by the
notions that have been developed from quantum mechanics.
But there is a problem with this, and it is called gravity. According to Einstein's theory of
general relativity, gravity is not a force like the others, because in quantum mechanics all
physical forces are made up of particles, but gravity is not made up of particles, rather it is a
distortion of spacetime caused by the presence of matter or energy. To sum up, gravity is a
theory of precise distances and as I have discussed earlier in quantum mechanics it is very
hard to determine the position of a particle let alone distances. So when scientists try to add
particles like the graviton to reconcile Einstein’s theory of relativity to the standard model in
quantum field theory all the math stops working.
To fix this, scientists asked themselves, what is more complex than a point?... a line! a
string, and this is how string theory was born. Now the beauty of strings is that they can
represent different variations of itself. For example a violin string vibrating differently will
generate different notes, similarly different vibrations of a string will generate different
particles and this includes gravity, thus the gravity problem has been solved. Scientists have
just found a theory of everything, a theory that united all the scientific ideas and provided
mankind with the answer to what is reality, what is the universe? and what it is made up of!
To briefly explain to you what string theory is, is the idea that the universe is made up of a
tiny infinitesimal quantity of strings that vibrate in configuration to determine the properties of
its particle which in turns determines what kind of atom it is, which determines what kind of
compound it will be, what kind of molecule will it become and so on… Isn’t this mind blowing!
As we conclude this inspiring journey, I invite you to embrace the spirit of scientific curiosity.
Let's support the ideas of those who laid the foundation to these ideas like Socrateses,
Galileo, Feynman and Einstein and the brilliant minds who continue to push the boundaries
of knowledge. Whether it's through encouraging young scientists, advocating for research
funding, or simply nurturing a love for learning, each of us can be part of unraveling the
mysteries of the universe and shaping our collective future.
Thank you.
Questions:
1) What is the problem with string theory? Why is it only hypothetical?
2) What is quantum mechanics in simple terms?
3) Why can’t we see particles?
