I have no physics background.
2007-08-06 08:46:39 · 3 answers · asked by lee s 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
M-Theory is the logical outcome of String Theory. Strings are on their way out while membranes are on their way in...but it is a good place to start.
Strings vibrate in multiple dimensions, up to 10, most of which are too small for us to see and/or measure.
Membranes vibrate in 11 dimensions and incorporate all 5 variants of string theories.
Gravity is suspected to be a force that "bleeds" into our dimensions from one of the other ones, which is why it is the weakest force but has infinite range.
2007-08-06 10:50:09 · answer #1 · answered by Mathsorcerer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A string is a one-dimensional object. It's the next step up from viewing a particle as a point, 0-dimensional. M is for "membrane" which you can think of as a surface, or 2-dimensional (although D-branes can be used . . . higher dimensional membranes) The point of all this is that by using extra dimensions, you increase the degrees of freedom of the theory (more parameters to vary) and thus you have more freedom in what the theory can describe and the ability to increase the accuracy of the theory at the expense of making the theory more complicated.
2007-08-06 16:04:05 · answer #2 · answered by supastremph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very complicated,might want to read stephen hawkins explanation.
2007-08-06 15:53:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋