Most likely, some aspects of each ARE wrong. But that's the cool thing about science, it's a search for truth. So if we had to start over with a whole new idea, just think of all the amazing questions and answers we'd have to look forward to!
I think serious scientists would be very happy, and put on another pot of coffee. ~G~ I know I'd be happy, and I'm just a science freak, not a scientist.
2006-06-20 11:08:33
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answer #1
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answered by LazlaHollyfeld 6
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Quantum mechanics may be incomplete, but it cannot possibly be wrong. It has been tested too many times, and has successfully made the most accurate predictions of any theory in any of the sciences ever by a very long way. But it is clearly not the whole story.
String theory is more problematic. For a start there are lots of them, and they have proved difficult to reconcile with one another. And none has even been succesfully tested, let alone made predictions that have been proved accurate. This should make the theorists behind them very uncomfortable, but the fact that the theories are so mathematically complex and abstract limits informed debate even within the scientific community. Even some of the leading theorists in the world are not convinced we are as close to an answer that is claimed - See Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality
2006-06-20 19:14:57
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answer #2
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answered by Epidavros 4
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Probably like it was when the Theory of Relativity came along and proved Nowtonian mechanics 'wrong'. Newtonian mechanics is perfectly accurate and useful until velocities near the speed of light are involved. Quantum mechanics isn't relevant until you're predicting the behavior of single subatomic particles. So if a better theory comes along, it will predict reality under some additional, very specific conditions.
My personal feeling, hope, and wish regarding string theory is best expressed as, "Surely there's a simpler explanation!"
Otherwise, I have no hope of ever being able to do the math.
2006-06-20 11:10:17
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answer #3
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answered by Frank N 7
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String Theory and Quantum Mechanics are only theories because they seem to answer most of the problems that can't be proved with Newtonian Physics. At this time, they are the best reasons why very large scale and very small scale things work in our universe and will remain so until something better comes along.
2006-06-20 11:19:23
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answer #4
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answered by wefields@swbell.net 3
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LeAnne said, "Neither 'proves' the other wrong since neither theory is proved" Nope! It's like Chicken God said. QM is a well-established, highly successful physical theory. If it is ever disproven, it will be like the way Einstein proved that Newton was "wrong." To this day, it still takes carefully designed experiments and precision instrumentation to tell the difference between Newton's predictions and Einstein's predictions. Newton's laws are still used today for mundane tasks like navigating spacecraft through the solar system. You only need turn to Einstein if you want to do something truly exotic like explain black holes, or make the GPS system work. Einstein's theory was better than Newton's theory, because it provided us with new knowledge. It predicted phenomena that previously were unknown, and it explained phenomena (like the precession of Mercury's orbit) that previously were unexplained. String theory isn't there yet. Not even close. It will be a big victory for the string theorists, if they can just get it to agree with everything that we already know (both from QM and from General Relativity), but it won't be a real, full-blown scientific theory until they can get it to tell us something NEW.
2016-05-20 06:11:31
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Nothing that is why we call them theories. We are just looking for solutions to the experiments we conduct so If those theories are wrong then new ones would emerge. Anyways quantum mechanics is all based on probability so it might not be completely right.
2006-06-20 11:19:10
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answer #6
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answered by Alfonzo J 1
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If you could replace string theory and quantum mechanics with something more sensible and easier to understand, the world would be a far better place - once you eliminate poverty, famine, and disease.
2006-06-20 11:29:05
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answer #7
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answered by Thomas F 3
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String theory and relativity would have been an even more wrong combination. God I hate string theory, and all those smug scientists that are just banking off of all the idiots who buy into it.
2006-06-20 11:06:21
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answer #8
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answered by Tony, ya feel me? 3
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Nothing to huge. There would probably be a race to figure out what is "right". Until that is proven wrong and another race will begin.
-end
2006-06-20 12:49:41
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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That would colapse the world of science as we know it. i really dont want to think about that.
2006-06-20 11:10:45
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answer #10
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answered by taiya002 1
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