Can the laws of physics ever be unified?

Question

Why or why not?

"Probably not by the end of this summer, however."
Damn... I was really looking foreward to that..

Anyway, I wasn't referring to any theories in my question, just asking if you think we will ever have a single theory that explains every event that we know of.

Three forces may be unified, but maybe in the wrong way to be unified with teh 4th :-)

Answer 1

I'm not exactly a physicist (in fact, I am much more of a biologist/chemist sort of person), but I do know that they are trying to link the theory of relativity and quantum theory...I believe that the "M theory" or "string theory" are attempts at this, but, again, I'm not quite a physicist, so I may be wrong.

However, I did recently read a fascinating article in "Discover" magazine which attempted to tie relativity and quantum mechanics together via a newer theory; the article was about why you cannot be in two places at once even though particles can. I would highly recommend taking a journey to your library or some sort of archives to access this article. It was recent (within the last two years), and it was the cover article. The cover said something similar to "If a particle can be in two places at once why can't you?"

Anyway, the general idea of this article was that according to quantum mechanics you can be in two places at once if you have less mass which means that you have less energy which means that you are more stable. For example, a dust particle is more stable than you because it has less mass, and it collapses back to one location slower because it is more stable than something with more mass. According to quantum mechanics, those subatomic particles exist everywhere at once (read about Niels Bohr's theories and Schro:edinger's theories), and you cannot observe them perfectly because simply by observing them, you've ruined something about them.

I am sorry I could not have been of much help. Physics isn't really my specialty as I say again, and I often have trouble conversing about it in English effectively. It was unbelievably difficult for me to think about which term to use...I know how to say them in Russian, but not so much in English! I hope that I have at least inspired you to think about subscribing to "Discover" and finding that article I read about the particles being in more than one place at once. I am really more convinced that that theory in that article is more possible than "string theory." I can't really support this statement because I don't know an excessive amount of physics, but I really think that string theory is about to snap--like a string! I really do...especially after reading that article I keep mentioning. I think that theory in the article also unified those four forces...it effectively got gravity in there.

Answer 2

That's a very broad question. I assume you are concerned with Einstein's theory which works well on a macro level, and string theory which works well microscopically.

I believe that someone somewhere will do the math to make things match. Probably not by the end of this summer, however.

Answer 3

All the laws of physics stem from the nature of four fundamental forces --
strong nuclear force
weak nuclear force
electromagnetism
gravity

The first three have been unified. If/when the unification of gravity is accomplished then the laws of physics will be unified.

Answer 4

There will never be a day in which science has no more to study.
I think we can however reach some unified theory that can explain
most of the known phenomena in the universe.

Answer 5

Can the Laws of Physics be Unified?
Yes.
Because :" The Physics is first of all Vacuum ( T=0K ) "
From Т=0К the physics begins.
From Т=0К the religion begins.
From Т=0К the philosophy begins.
From Т=0К the psychology begins.
From Т=0К the Genesis begins.
From Т=0К the formation of stars begins.
http://www.socratus.com

Answer 6

Think, Multiverses!

Answer 7

lets hope that the day will come soon