Being no physicist, I am certainly at a loss when it comes to many of the scientific realities and theories of the universe.It just so happened that I was in discussion with one of the young men who spent the weekend with us from the Life Action Revival Team. He mentioned his interest and study of physics in college. I barely know how to spell the word "fi...," er, "physics." I then sprung upon him one of my favorite questions: "Just what is string theory?"
His reply: "I dunno."
Suddenly the thought leaped into my head that I had asked the same questions of a young, bright medical student now studying at LSU-Shreveport medical school.
I made the call to him at approximately 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening.
He was in the school library.
Studying.
Studying on a Saturday evening? Yes, for there was a test on Monday. I was impressed and amazed.
But the urgency of the question caused me to move quickly beyond small talk.
Within seconds, I sprung my question. "Just what did you tell me was 'string theory?'"
I waited anxiously for the answer.
Silence. A long pause.
"I don't remember," he quietly replied.
I informed my guest of the verdict and happily, though somewhat emptily, finished the conversation with my medical student friend.
End of story. Almost.
Today, as I was perusing my blog updates, I found the answer.
Are you ready?
In 22 words or less, describe string theory.
String theory: fundamental particles (electrons, photons etc) are not point objects but strings which vibrate in different modes to produce different particles.
These words are from an interview done by Tim Challies you can find here with the interesting title, "Who Made God?" Honestly, I don't know any more than I did before.
As a physicist, I would starve.
String theory is important to some theoretical physicists because they use it to explain how what was thought to be a constant, matter, can apparently spontaneously change without being acted on by some force outside of itself. Hence they have created (pun intended) a solution to the problem of no ultimate cause in their theories of the origins of the universe. It is a way to try to get around the apparent contradictions in previous theories with Newton's laws of thermodynamics. In a sense, it is a way of changing the rules so as to get the desired answer. Their safety net is that it cannot be disproved, so why not? Besides, they are really educated individuals who made this up so who would question them?
ReplyDeleteChanging the rules to get the desired outcome? Sounds like Captain Kirk in Star Trek... Thanks for the "layman's" explanation, professor!
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