LOLScience! thread

DEATHPIGGIE · I'm fat and nobody likes me

LOLScience! thread

Jason · Only in cartoons

I don't get string theory in the least. A string's vibration is explained through the properties of matter and energy. It does not help to explain matter and energy themselves. What does it mean that matter and energy is made of strings? What are the strings made of if not matter? What makes them vibrate if not energy?

DEATHPIGGIE · I'm fat and nobody likes me

"I donno."

Jason · Only in cartoons

Save us, MATHsex, you're our only hope.

DEATHPIGGIE · I'm fat and nobody likes me

Pft. I don't trust his ass.

Jason · Only in cartoons

He's full of **** half the time, but then there's the other half.

DEATHPIGGIE · I'm fat and nobody likes me

We're onto you!

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

Jason wrote:

He's full of **** half the time, but then there's the other half.

you sons of bitches

anyway, matter and energy are very strongly coupled -- matter is energy (see special relativity) and matter transports energy with vibrations/waves. i'm not too familiar with the technical subtleties of string theory, but i do know that string theory claims that matter is a consequence of immeasurable strings's resonant frequencies (constructive interference). how the resonance occurs (how many complete wavelengths/frequencies of oscillation are contained within the string) is claimed to determine properties of the matter and its corresponding energy.

since no experiment has been proposed such as to falsify string theory, it cannot yet be distinguished from some lame-ass, metaphysical pretend and make-believe. twenty-six dimensions my achin' ass

-- Edited by MATHSEX at 01:44, 2008-11-29

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

Jason wrote:

I don't get string theory in the least. A string's vibration is explained through the properties of matter and energy. It does not help to explain matter and energy themselves. What does it mean that matter and energy is made of strings? What are the strings made of if not matter? What makes them vibrate if not energy?

you got it backwards: properties of matter are determined by the string's vibration. if reasonably accurate, string theory would explain matter and energy

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

if you wish to do a little reading on the role of string theory within the community of physicists, the new yorker has a delightful story written for non-scientists.

this is a well-made video about visualizing extra dimensions. i still don't like the idea of making up dimensions to fit untested guesswork, but it's still a fun gedanken experiment. one minor complaint i have of the video is that humans don't see in three dimensions, unlike the claim made by the video: humans see in two dimensions with the brain using parallax to infer the third

-- Edited by MATHSEX at 02:21, 2008-11-29

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

I'm going to call it "Hawking's Theory"

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

blame is best laid on leonard susskind

Jason · Only in cartoons

MATHSEX wrote:

Jason wrote:

I don't get string theory in the least. A guitar string's vibration is explained through the properties of matter and energy. It does not help to explain matter and energy themselves. What does it mean that matter and energy is made of strings? What are the strings made of if not matter? What makes them vibrate if not energy?

you got it backwards: properties of matter are determined by the string's vibration. if reasonably accurate, string theory would explain matter and energy

I hope this clarification helped illuminate my concerns. I understand what the theory says, to a degree, but I don't understand the analogy.

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

It's like a balloon...and something bad happens!

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

Jason wrote:

I hope this clarification helped illuminate my concerns. I understand what the theory says, to a degree, but I don't understand the analogy.

keep in mind that my university doesn't pollute the mind of a physics major with string theory, so i am not too keen on the technical subtleties of the theory. but i reckon that this analogy is as follows:

consider a standing wave on a guitar string of a known tension. you would call a wave with two nodes E, A, D, G, B, e, bob, joe, electron, top quark, whatever. changing the force with which you strike the string may change the energy of the wave, but it still shares fundamental characteristics with a similar vibration that happens to have less energy. my understanding is that the wave characteristics of a string yield information about the kind of particle it is and the energy contained by the particle.

for instance, electron-positron annihilation goes like this:

electron + positron <-> 2(photon)

(characteristic wave of electron) + (characteristic wave of positron) <-> 2(characteristic wave of photon)

or neutrino-electron scattering:

mu neutrino + anti-mu neutrino <-> electron + positron

(characteristic wave of mu neutrino) + (characteristic wave of anti-mu neutrino) <- (characteristic wave of virtual Z boson) -> (characteristic wave of electron) + (characteristic wave of positron)

etc.

-- Edited by MATHSEX at 05:02, 2008-11-30

Jason · Only in cartoons

That actually cleared a few things up for me. So the "string" part of the theory comes from the idea that some matter and energy instances share fundamental properties, which could be explained by them being manifested by the same "string"?

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

correct