String Theory Research Paper
Axel Martinez
Mrs. Gallaher
English Composition
12-4-09
Strings, Strings, Everything is made of Strings
The Holy Grail of physics is to explain all the four forces of nature and matter/energy (they are both the same thing) into a single equation. This theory of everything will reveal everything about the universe, most importantly, how it began. So far the only game in town is string theory.
String theory is a purely mathematical theory that makes the bold claim that all matter and force particles are made of unimaginably tiny strings that vibrate in 10 dimensions. And the frequency which these strings vibrate determines the particle’s properties.
String theory has had a very interesting beginning, although the theory didn’t get popular until the 1980’s, it was actually discovered as a mistake in the 1960’s by a young Italian physicist by the name of Gabriele Veneziano.
As the story goes, Veneziano was searching for a set of equations that would describe the strong nuclear force. The force that keeps the nucleus of an atom together, binding protons and neutrons. Veneziano was searching through math books when he found a 200 year old equation first written down by a Swiss mathematician named Leonhard Euler. Veneziano was shocked to find that Euler’s equation, long thought to be nothing more than a mathematical curiosity, described the strong nuclear force. Veneziano then published a paper and became famous for this accidental discovery.
“ I occasionally see it written in books that this model was discovered by chance or was found in a math book, and this makes me feel pretty bad; What is true is that the function was a outcome of a year of work, and yes we accidently discovered string theory”- Gabriele Veneziano.
Euler’s equation was passed from physicist to physicist, until one day the equation was showed to Leonard Susskind. “I fiddled with it, I sat in my attic I think for two months on and off, but the first thing I could see in it was that it was describing
Mrs. Gallaher
English Composition
12-4-09
Strings, Strings, Everything is made of Strings
The Holy Grail of physics is to explain all the four forces of nature and matter/energy (they are both the same thing) into a single equation. This theory of everything will reveal everything about the universe, most importantly, how it began. So far the only game in town is string theory.
String theory is a purely mathematical theory that makes the bold claim that all matter and force particles are made of unimaginably tiny strings that vibrate in 10 dimensions. And the frequency which these strings vibrate determines the particle’s properties.
String theory has had a very interesting beginning, although the theory didn’t get popular until the 1980’s, it was actually discovered as a mistake in the 1960’s by a young Italian physicist by the name of Gabriele Veneziano.
As the story goes, Veneziano was searching for a set of equations that would describe the strong nuclear force. The force that keeps the nucleus of an atom together, binding protons and neutrons. Veneziano was searching through math books when he found a 200 year old equation first written down by a Swiss mathematician named Leonhard Euler. Veneziano was shocked to find that Euler’s equation, long thought to be nothing more than a mathematical curiosity, described the strong nuclear force. Veneziano then published a paper and became famous for this accidental discovery.
“ I occasionally see it written in books that this model was discovered by chance or was found in a math book, and this makes me feel pretty bad; What is true is that the function was a outcome of a year of work, and yes we accidently discovered string theory”- Gabriele Veneziano.
Euler’s equation was passed from physicist to physicist, until one day the equation was showed to Leonard Susskind. “I fiddled with it, I sat in my attic I think for two months on and off, but the first thing I could see in it was that it was describing