What's the string theory?

Question

Can anyone help me on this one? Ive heard about it but it doesnt make any sense at all.

Answer 1

The Cliff's Notes version of string theory is that quantum theorists have known for almost a century that things are made up of "waves". But in the 1960s it was noticed that the data would fit the equations better if there was an extra degree of freedom for things to vibrate. It's as if plucking a guitar string wouldn't quite produce "all the observed harmonics", but if there was vibration around the guitar string itself, it would. At a distance, a guitar string appears to be just a line, but in close up it has a thickness. So, "ordinary physics" takes place in the familiar 3D+T space, but string theory adds 6 more dimensions which are thought to be "compactified dimensions" in the same way a guitar string approximates a line but isn't really. It turned out that the mathematical machinery that fit the best was already worked out before string theorists came along, the 6 extra dimensions are those of Calabai-Yau spaces, which are 3D spaces of complex numbers, making it 6D in all. Add this to the original 3D+T space we're familiar with, we've got 10 dimensions in string theory. A later refinement called M-Theory has 11 dimensions, which includes 10 dimensional string theories, but instead of "vibrating strings", M-theory has "vibrating branes". It has proved valuable in unifying a number of disparate string theories.

Answer 2

The string theory has emerged as the most promising candidate to tie together the concepts of quantum mechanics to that of gravitation. It is a theory of everything.

Please see references below

Answer 3

BASIC WHAT-IS-IT
A theory that can explain all the four forces (electromagnetism, weak force, strong force, gravity) using quantum mechanics.

ADVANCED WHAT-IS-IT
it says that all particles have an identity of a string, that vibrates. all strings are similar, except they can be opened, closed, and can vibrate differently. Different combos of these properties make up certain particles that make up our universe.

Certain strings can vibrate to generate a force/field/wave that corresponds to one of the four forces.