2006-11-29 03:47:02 · 11 answers · asked by uk_duggy_uk 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
...a question that ha plagued manking for centuries, this is the quantum view of the problem.
say we are dealing with a hypothetical piece of string, we want to know it's length but we have no means of measuring it because it is hypothetical, therefore we can not even see it. In quantun physics, this string would be described as being in a superposiion of states. This 'superposition of states' basically means that the string must be all possible lengths all the way from 0 up to infinite. The superposition of states applies to the string right up until it is measured, at which point the string 'decides' what length it is. But as i said this string is hypothetical. So, how long is a piece of string?: all possible lengths in the universe!
2006-11-29 20:48:37 · answer #1 · answered by william k 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Remarkably the answer to this is not known.
For any given piece of string we can measure it over and over again with a measuring device and the answer will have a spread of values. The best we can do is generate an average length. Then we can generate another number called the variance which will tell us by how much the values are spread about the average.
There just isnt a precise answer. Check out any basic book on statistics to learn more about the vagaries of measurement.
2006-11-29 17:35:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Strings in string theory are thought to be in the order of Planck length, roughly 10^-35 meters, which physicists say marks the boundary where laws of "ordinary spacetime" begin to break down. Being able to detect or measure anything of that size is one of the greatest challenges facing physics today. To get a feel for how tiny it is, one planck length relative to a meter-stick is about the same as one meter-stick relative to the size of the observable universe.
2006-11-29 11:56:33 · answer #3 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It depends on what you are talking about. A piece of string can be any where from 1cm to 1 mile!!!
2006-11-29 11:49:14 · answer #4 · answered by cougar1331puma 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
IF YOU ARE TELLING ABOUT A NORMAL STRING IT CAN BE LONG AS MUCH AS YOU WANT
IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE STRINGS OF THE STRING THEORY IT IS VERY VERY SMALL
2006-11-29 12:43:21 · answer #5 · answered by genius sonia 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
take a string , cut as much as u want and measure it to get the length.i know only this much about lenght of strings. i am exteremely sorry!
2006-11-29 12:13:16 · answer #6 · answered by sahana 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not the old twice the length from the end to the middle bit again !
2006-11-29 12:08:33 · answer #7 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Two inches shorter than it needs to be.
2006-11-29 12:50:22 · answer #8 · answered by Count Scrofula 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It could be any length.
2006-11-29 11:50:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
why is it when i press my belly button my bum Doesnt fall off like i was told it would when i was a kid?
2006-11-29 11:51:57 · answer #10 · answered by aberdeen302004 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋