could i please have a laymens term to the string theory?

Answer 1

One man by the name of A. Einstein believed that a unified theory is possible. As you know he did a pretty good work on general theory of relativity. His explanation of gravitation perhaps was not complete (we need that unified theory to figure exactly what gravitation is) but it was much better then say the older Newtonian idea. At the same the, as Albert was developing the general theory of relativity, the Quantum Mechanics (QM) became to emerge as serious science. The QM scientist beloved that the behavior of subatomic particles is probabilistic. Einstein heard that ad protested with a statement: “I do not believe God play dice with the Universe” to which Niels Bohr answered “Albert, do not tell God what to do” (Or something like that). So the fit between deterministic macro world and probabilistic micro world has begun.

Today physicists s are trying to marry the macro world, where very week gravitational force act, to the micro subatomic world of QM. The string theory seems to have the mathematical tooling to allow both of these worlds to exist within a single model.

You can find more info in
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Greene

Who by the way I heard had an excellent documentary on NOVA, PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/greene.html

Answer 2

No.

Its way too complicated.

And possibly wrong (at least, no experiment has been conceived that could test it).

Quick precis. In the standard model every particle is treated as a point with zero size (very tiny pool balls). In string theory they are treated as little bits of string, with one extra dimension.

In string theory everything is explained in terms of vibrations of these tiny strings, all of different frequencies. However, to do this you have to introduce a varying number of additional dimensions in the maths. This is highly embarrassing because we see only 4 dimensions. So string tehory assumes all these extra dimension are so wrapped up in themselves they are too shy to come out in public.

Answer 3

I would refer you to Steven Hawking's - A Briefer History of TIme. It is a short read and leads through the various theories and discoveries that help to understand the various cosmological theories and gives a pretty good explanation of string theory.
Maybe even check Steven Hawking's website.

www.hawking.org.uk/home/hindex.html

Answer 4

http://superstringtheory.com/
This website is the official web site on the string theory. It should help you with your answer.