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Author Topic:   brian greene and string theory
cloud_strife
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 15 (97731)
04-04-2004 9:06 PM


does anyone know anything about string theory, and whether or not it's actually true?? I was watching daily planet, and it had brian greene on it as a guest discussing his new book, what's your opinion of him?

Replies to this message:
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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1467 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 2 of 15 (97735)
04-04-2004 9:47 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by cloud_strife
04-04-2004 9:06 PM


does anyone know anything about string theory, and whether or not it's actually true??
Apparently there's no experiment we know of that you could perform to determine if string theory was "true" or not.
But the math works out, I guess.

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Replies to this message:
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Eta_Carinae
Member (Idle past 4375 days)
Posts: 547
From: US
Joined: 11-15-2003


Message 3 of 15 (97738)
04-04-2004 10:13 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by crashfrog
04-04-2004 9:47 PM


Experiments.
There are some experiments planned for this.

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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 4 of 15 (97742)
04-04-2004 10:26 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by cloud_strife
04-04-2004 9:06 PM


You should read this book by Stephen Hawking...it breaks down string theory into nearly understandable terms...it's also good to read "A brief history of Time" by him.

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sidelined
Member (Idle past 5908 days)
Posts: 3435
From: Edmonton Alberta Canada
Joined: 08-30-2003


Message 5 of 15 (97743)
04-04-2004 10:27 PM
Reply to: Message 3 by Eta_Carinae
04-04-2004 10:13 PM


Re: Experiments.
Eta Carinae
What experiments are there on tap for this and when will they occur?

'Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.'
(Daniel Patrick Moynihan)

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1467 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 6 of 15 (97808)
04-05-2004 2:29 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by Eta_Carinae
04-04-2004 10:13 PM


There are some experiments planned for this.
Oh. Is that a new thing? Because I heard that there were no experiments on that PBS show with Brian Greene. He seemed pretty sure that the theory itself was not amenable to experimentation, but if you say so...

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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 7 of 15 (97810)
04-05-2004 2:51 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by crashfrog
04-05-2004 2:29 AM


LOL!
They're probably using the "new math" to prove it.

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cloud_strife
Inactive Member


Message 8 of 15 (97817)
04-05-2004 4:19 AM


Well...I heard on Daily Planet that they were making an atomic accelerator, or something like that. Where they crash two atoms together at high speeds, then analyze the debris, and see if anything matches their predictions about string theory.
I don't know how...or anything about that.

  
1.61803
Member (Idle past 1504 days)
Posts: 2928
From: Lone Star State USA
Joined: 02-19-2004


Message 9 of 15 (97845)
04-05-2004 11:32 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by cloud_strife
04-04-2004 9:06 PM


elegant universe
ST from what I have read and what my limited understanding is difficult to wrap ones mind around its concepts. That the fabric of existance is vibrations eminating from strings the size of planke's length made of god knows what vibrating in some strange shaped 11 dimention space to produce the subatomic and fundlemental particles that make up the physical reality of the universe. It is almost like Brian Greene is saying Ok what needs to exist for my math to work out? 9 dimentions dont work? Ok let have 10, oh ten collapses the theory? Let make it 11 dimentions. I have hard enough time trying to imagine 5 dimentions let alone 11. As far as I know it is still a speculative theory that uses fantastic mathmatics and assertions to attempt to merge GR with QM. Not a very entertaining book IMO

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AbelKane
Inactive Junior Member


Message 10 of 15 (97862)
04-05-2004 12:09 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by SRO2
04-04-2004 10:26 PM


Ive read Stephen Hawkings' "A Brief History of Time" and it barely even mentions string theory if you want to read a book about this subject try reading "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene, although i found this book a little difficault and sometimes very tedious... i think most people would agree with that.
[This message has been edited by AbelKane, 04-05-2004]

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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 11 of 15 (97874)
04-05-2004 1:00 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by AbelKane
04-05-2004 12:09 PM


Hawking "Universe in a nutshell"
That was the first book, string theory is addressed (parnethetically) in "The universe in a nutshell"....
"Elegant Universe"...you must be living in a different...mine is chock full of black holes and galaxis colliding with each other.

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Eta_Carinae
Member (Idle past 4375 days)
Posts: 547
From: US
Joined: 11-15-2003


Message 12 of 15 (97875)
04-05-2004 1:04 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by crashfrog
04-05-2004 2:29 AM


Experiments
Certain string theory predictions can be tested in planned gravitational wave experiments like LISA. Also next generation CMB observations (Planck satellite) may also be able to check some string theory predictions.
I am not a string theorist, though I have read quite a few string theory papers. I wouldn't say all aspects can be expected to be experimentally tested in the next few years but I know some people are planning the above mentioned tests.
By the way, a friend of mine is a leading string theorist and he is not a big fan of Greene's to say the least.

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SRO2 
Inactive Member


Message 13 of 15 (97883)
04-05-2004 1:21 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by Eta_Carinae
04-05-2004 1:04 PM


Re: Experiments
I've never read any of greenes work myself. Only hawking...so I'm speaking a little out of school in the first place.

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Raymon
Inactive Member


Message 14 of 15 (97948)
04-05-2004 4:53 PM


Experiment
I seem to recall that the experiment would test for deviations from General Relativity that String theory could account for. It wouldn't falsify ST however, because ST describes too many possible universes.

  
Primordial Egg
Inactive Member


Message 15 of 15 (98052)
04-06-2004 5:36 AM
Reply to: Message 13 by SRO2
04-05-2004 1:21 PM


Re: Experiments
I think "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene is probably one of the best books I've read on any scientific topic. I'm half way through "Fabric of the Cosmos" at the moment, but finding it strangely drab.
PE

"Probably the toughest time in anyone's life is when you have to murder a loved one because they're the devil." - Emo Philips

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