Post by Bret Walker on Nov 19, 2003 17:40:48 GMT -5
Albert Einstein defined the world of General Relativity, and General Relativity stands as one of the concretes in the rules that govern astronomical movement. However, his General Relativity did not seem to apply to the world of the minute. INstead, atomic-level rules are defined not by gravity, the force which governs the Universe, but instead by Electro-magnetism, and the strong and weak atomic bonds (Strong being the bond that holds the nucleus together, and which holds the electrons in orbit around the nucleus; and Weak being the bonds that allow for photons and nuclear radiation). Indeed, Einstein searched fruitlessly until his death for a connection between General Relativity and the rules that govern sub-atomic particles. The "Grand Unification" theory never came to him.
Today, there are a group of mathemeticians who believe in what is called the String Theory. This theory states that everything is made up of tiny bands of energy called Strings, and that the vibration of these strings is what determine's a particular property, whether it be Electro-magnetic attraction, or Strong or Weak forces, or even Gravity. IN addition, the string theory takes into account that there are many additional dimensions beyond the four dimentions of space and time. However, not all string theorists agree on how the strings appear, whether they are circular or open in nature, how they vibrate, or even how many dimensions require the vibration of strings to determine a particular force.
And in my mind, if there are so many additional dimensions, which I can accept, then why do these strings only define four distinct forces? You'd think that the forces are much more in number, and yet there are only four.
I think that String Theorists are wrong. And I think that Einstein was actually closer than he thought, but that he was thinking in a different direction. He was thinking inward, but he was not taking into account his own theory of general relativity. And for me to explain exactly what I have in mind, I have to first explain a little general relativity.
You see, relativity works like this: Everything in the universe, and every movement of mass in the universe, is relative to the movement of everything else. Think about this: If a motorcyclist drops a ball at 50 miles per hour, the ball appears to the driver to fall straight down to the ground. However, to an observer standing on the curb, the ball appears to fall diagonally in a forward trajectory to the ground, at a rate of 50 miles per hour. Now think of a plane traveling 500 miles per hour. If a pitcher throws a ball from the back of the plane to the front of the plane at 100 miles per hour, the ball appears to him to travel at 100 miles per hour. To our observer on the ground, however, the ball travels at 600 miles per hour. And to an observer in a plane passing in the opposite direction at 500 miles per hour, the ball is traveling at 1100 miles per hour.
And yet, the planet is spinning on its axis at 900 miles per hour. To an observer in space, the ball travels at 1500 miles per hour if the plane is flying in the same direction as the earth's rotation.
Now imagine that a person on the plane shines a flashlight from the rear of the plane to the front. Does the beam of light travel 500 miles per hour faster than the actual speed of light?
No, said Einstein, because as mass approaches the speed of light, relative time slows down to the point that nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
And this is where I started to think about the sub-atomic world. Because if time slows down as the speed of light is approached, it's because of a curvature in space/time. This curvature would mean that, as objects become smaller, time also speeds up. The speed of an object in the subatomic world is very slow in comparison to objects that are "lifesize" to us, but the speed of those objects is just fine in the subatomic world.
Because of this, on the subatomic level, electrons appear to move very slowly around the nucleus of the atom. Molecular fusion and fission are like drops of molasses. Time itself slows to a crawl.
If the Universe were a drop of water in another larger universe, the 16 billion years of development since the Big Bang would appear, to an observer in that universe, to be less than a microsecond. Yet to us it's an immense amount of time.
I believe that sub-atomic particles are governed by the same rules as General Relativity dictates, but that because time is slowed for the sub-atomic arena, to us it defies the rules of simple gravity. On the contrary, it is gravity that rules the sub-atomic world as well as our own. And if you were to take into account the exponential slowing of time in the sub-atomic world, you would be able to use the same equations to determine the path of electrons, the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism - you would find that they all work with the rules of simple gravity when slowed down to the proper passing of time.
And that is why I think String Theory is so much voodoo. Einstein was so close, but he never touched it. It's a shame to me that he died before he realized the truth.
Today, there are a group of mathemeticians who believe in what is called the String Theory. This theory states that everything is made up of tiny bands of energy called Strings, and that the vibration of these strings is what determine's a particular property, whether it be Electro-magnetic attraction, or Strong or Weak forces, or even Gravity. IN addition, the string theory takes into account that there are many additional dimensions beyond the four dimentions of space and time. However, not all string theorists agree on how the strings appear, whether they are circular or open in nature, how they vibrate, or even how many dimensions require the vibration of strings to determine a particular force.
And in my mind, if there are so many additional dimensions, which I can accept, then why do these strings only define four distinct forces? You'd think that the forces are much more in number, and yet there are only four.
I think that String Theorists are wrong. And I think that Einstein was actually closer than he thought, but that he was thinking in a different direction. He was thinking inward, but he was not taking into account his own theory of general relativity. And for me to explain exactly what I have in mind, I have to first explain a little general relativity.
You see, relativity works like this: Everything in the universe, and every movement of mass in the universe, is relative to the movement of everything else. Think about this: If a motorcyclist drops a ball at 50 miles per hour, the ball appears to the driver to fall straight down to the ground. However, to an observer standing on the curb, the ball appears to fall diagonally in a forward trajectory to the ground, at a rate of 50 miles per hour. Now think of a plane traveling 500 miles per hour. If a pitcher throws a ball from the back of the plane to the front of the plane at 100 miles per hour, the ball appears to him to travel at 100 miles per hour. To our observer on the ground, however, the ball travels at 600 miles per hour. And to an observer in a plane passing in the opposite direction at 500 miles per hour, the ball is traveling at 1100 miles per hour.
And yet, the planet is spinning on its axis at 900 miles per hour. To an observer in space, the ball travels at 1500 miles per hour if the plane is flying in the same direction as the earth's rotation.
Now imagine that a person on the plane shines a flashlight from the rear of the plane to the front. Does the beam of light travel 500 miles per hour faster than the actual speed of light?
No, said Einstein, because as mass approaches the speed of light, relative time slows down to the point that nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
And this is where I started to think about the sub-atomic world. Because if time slows down as the speed of light is approached, it's because of a curvature in space/time. This curvature would mean that, as objects become smaller, time also speeds up. The speed of an object in the subatomic world is very slow in comparison to objects that are "lifesize" to us, but the speed of those objects is just fine in the subatomic world.
Because of this, on the subatomic level, electrons appear to move very slowly around the nucleus of the atom. Molecular fusion and fission are like drops of molasses. Time itself slows to a crawl.
If the Universe were a drop of water in another larger universe, the 16 billion years of development since the Big Bang would appear, to an observer in that universe, to be less than a microsecond. Yet to us it's an immense amount of time.
I believe that sub-atomic particles are governed by the same rules as General Relativity dictates, but that because time is slowed for the sub-atomic arena, to us it defies the rules of simple gravity. On the contrary, it is gravity that rules the sub-atomic world as well as our own. And if you were to take into account the exponential slowing of time in the sub-atomic world, you would be able to use the same equations to determine the path of electrons, the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism - you would find that they all work with the rules of simple gravity when slowed down to the proper passing of time.
And that is why I think String Theory is so much voodoo. Einstein was so close, but he never touched it. It's a shame to me that he died before he realized the truth.