Help with Big Bang and String Theory

To be frank: I don't know much about the Big Bang, could someone either explain it a little or provide a source of up-to-date information about it?String Theory is constantly brought up at this forum, and I have no idea what it is. I would also appriciate some clarification on this.
Thanks.

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Wanna feel God? Step onto the wrestling mat and you'd be crazy to deny the uplifting spirit.

Thread moved here from the Suggestions and Questions forum.-----This topic circumvented the new new topic starting procedures. Unlike Rockets case, this may have been something along the lines of "an honest mistake". It seemed pretty silly to move the topic to the "Proposed New Topics" forum at this point, only to (probably) promptly move it to the "Big Bang..." forum.The "Suggestions and Questions" forum is intended for suggestions to and/or questions about the operation of . It's the tech support topic.I have a "What the various forums are intended for" type topic in the works.Summary: This breach of accepted procedure is forgiven. Such is NOT an automatic, when proper topic starting procedures are bypassed.Adminnemooseus[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 04-17-2004]

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I think you can find explanations about the big bang in many places.
Here is an oversimplified explanation of what the string theory is.Refer back to the question that the Greeks had about the atom. They asked that if you break something in half and keep breaking it in half, would you eventually reach a point where you can't break it any further or would you be spending an eternity breaking the pieces in half?We now know that there are other subatomic particles that are even smaller than the electrons and protons.The string theory says that everything DOES break down to something that is infinitesimally small that looks like a rubber band. Since it looks like a string, they named this theory the string theory.Basically, the string's vibration determine the property of matter. So, if you have an electron, then its string would vibrate at frequency A, and proton's string would vibrate at frequency B. In other words, the more energy a string matter has, the higher frequency it will vibrate.Now, the interesting stuff about the theory. In order for the theory to hold with all the data we have about the subatomic particles, the string must be vibrating in a 10 dimensional universe.Here is an analogy. If you put a guitar string in a 2 dimensional plane, it can only vibrate right and left. If you put it in a 3-D space, it can vibrate right, left, up and down. In other words, there are more frequencies available in a 3-D space than 2-D plane. The more dimension you have, the more frequencies the string can have.Mathematically, it takes 10 dimensions for the infinitesimal string to vibrate in for all the data to make sense. Thus, scientists theorize that the universe we live in actually have 10 dimensions instead of 4. However, not a single person in this world could imagine what the missing dimensions look like.By the way, I recommend the book called Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. This book explores the problems of understanding perception of different dimensions. I think you'll like it.{Fixed UBB code. There is no UBB code for "underline". - AM}[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 04-17-2004]

"Flatland" is available on line at
http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/
(it is 'sexist' though)

quote:

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(it is 'sexist' though)

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Hahahaha. Yes, but you have to understand that Abbott was a priest in 1880's.Have you ever wondered why the people of Flatland never use women as soldiers instead of men that have pointy angle?

Is it really sexist? I recall that Flatland is a satire on Victorian society. I had the impression that the depiction of females, like the lower class triangles, was part of the satire. But perhaps I was reading it with my 21st century sensibilities.

see
EvC Forum: Flatland is sexist[This message has been edited by RAZD, 04-18-2004]

Good, basic summary of Big Bang Theory...
Universe: Cosmology 101