The Elegant Universe... Black Holes, SuperStrings, Quantam Physics, Wormholes all explained (mostly)

Originally posted by Calculon386
One of the more interesting things I've read lately about String theory is how black holes may work. In "The Universe in a Nutshell" Steven Hawking describes a black hole as a possible intersection of dimensions. Just as a hologram is stored on a 2D medium and a record stores sound... this extra dimension could store the information from our 3D uninverse!

I thought strings were just smaller(est) building blocks of matter. Once we thought it was the Atom.. then the proton, neutron and mighty electron... then we discover the mysterious Quark... and strings supposedly make up an even smaller building block. So small, they will probably never be measured or detected. By vibrating at different frequencies, they produce different particles.

Quarks and other subatomic particles don't always act like matter, you most probably know that already though. And string theory is still theory, very elegant, but still a theory.

Originally posted by TheBandit795

Quarks and other subatomic particles don't always act like matter, you most probably know that already though. And string theory is still theory, very elegant, but still a theory.

Yeah, like a photon of light. It is effected by gravity, but can pass through solid matter (like glass). Weird stuff.

I've always been interested in space, stars & the universe but lately i've really been into the science behind all of these things. Its awesome to see how these things all work together (or against each other) in a massive cosmic scale down to the tiniest particle.

just a minor correction, glass is a liquid, not a solid.

For anyone who wants to download these videos read on:



The site says you cannot save/download the videos due to rights reasons, but if I remember correctly, every time you watch a video on your computer (off the internet), whether it be quicktime or flash, it first downloads to your computer and then gets played by the plugin. So technically, it videos should be in one of your temp/temp internet folders.

I'm not 100% on this, but I do remember having this happen to me with other such things in the past.

Can anyone back up what I'm saying?

Oh, and when this happened to me in the past, i was using Internet Explorer...that may have been a factor.

This is probably stupid but every two years the smart guys find out they were completely wrong so Im gona spew my own theory out =).

Strings can't be. One law of nature that is evident in everything you see is that everything becomes or attempts to become a sphere or a BALL. Strings may exist but only if they are immune to gravity.

Gravity attempts to pull everything together into a ball all the way down to those little nutrino things. then you get a string? I dont think so.

Even black holes are essentially spheres.

There is no missing energy. The black holes at the center of all the galaxies are what is causing the galaxies to move.

They are like massive jets pusing and pulling the galaxies they make up through the universe. Its pretty obvious really.... Sorry I dont have an equation to show you but you can just look at the chandra pictures and see the massive jets of energy spewing out of them.

Now apply whatever math you use for Ion engines speeding up over time, and apply that to a billions of year old push on space by a super massive black hole and then figure out whats moving the galaxies apart hah

The theory Xeven...

[edit on 12-7-2004 by Xeven]

[edit on 12-7-2004 by Xeven]

Originally posted by Xeven
Strings may exist but only if they are immune to gravity.

[edit on 12-7-2004 by Xeven]

[edit on 12-7-2004 by Xeven]

What if these strings are what causes gravity?

Strings that vibrate at a certain frequency causing what we know as gravity. I dunno...just a thought.

I guess if the stings themselves make gravity happen by forming the first BALL (nutrino's?) that would make them immune to gravity themselves. Your say they vibrate and create gravity... Now that I can see sorta. So we have these string things that are attracted to each other and they form balls that create gravity which make them attracted to other balls and form atoms... The more you put together the more gravity they produce and the larger they get.. OK we figured it all out. The universe started with strings.. God is a ball string!

Er what created the strings..

Good question! Here's what my personal theory is on what created strings. Think pre-big bang. You have this huge black hole containing all the matter that makes up everything. Well let's say it didn't contain all the matter at the same time. Think of trillions+ of basic elements such as protons, quarks, electrons etc. being sucked in by this massive gravitational force and stretching them to something like millions of light years long. Imagine an electron that is a few million light years long. Again just speculation into what a string may be.

Wow, forgot about this post!

Does gravity affect strings? Probably not.. does gravity affect electrons, i dont think so. When the electron jumps shells(orbits) it just appears at the new orbit.. and huge gravity doesnt stop them from jumping all over.

I have been reading a new book lately: The Age Of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil. Good read so far, i'll make a post of it when im finish. Something in the book did strike me as odd though... It says that when electrons and anti-electrons collide they produce a photon. Havent heard that anywhere else yet. The book has alot of amazing insights though.. here's one to get you started:

Can an intelligence create another intelligence smarter than itself?
ie: are we going to create machines that are more intelligent than its human creators?

Well, until the 'smart guys' invent something new.. im sticking with the Elegant String Theory! Vibrate on mighty strings!!

Originally posted by anjeeeee
For anyone who wants to download these videos read on:



The site says you cannot save/download the videos due to rights reasons, but if I remember correctly, every time you watch a video on your computer (off the internet), whether it be quicktime or flash, it first downloads to your computer and then gets played by the plugin. So technically, it videos should be in one of your temp/temp internet folders.

I'm not 100% on this, but I do remember having this happen to me with other such things in the past.

Can anyone back up what I'm saying?

Oh, and when this happened to me in the past, i was using Internet Explorer...that may have been a factor.

Wouldnt that be "Piracy"?? They do let you watch it for free over the web... And yes, there are ways to capture streaming video and audio to your comp. If you really like it that much, you should just buy it! Much higher quality than a QuickTime stream. Thanks!

well thanks alot.. i never knew about this

I don't want to annoy anyone but I have a question.

How can man, whos brain has evolved in a 3D world since he could think understand something as VAST as the universe? maybe it isn't a universe but an omniverse?

How can we think...'in space' when we live firmly rooted to Earth. Still we have to start somewhere.

HMmm I don't think I am getting my question across well but hopefully someone will understand it.

I dont think any of us were saying that we understood the universe! We are just talking over ideas and theories... I think we have a long way to go before we understand even a little of the massive complexities happening all around us all the time. We may have made a tiny scratch in a nearly infinate amount of knowledge it would take.

Someday though.....

Originally posted by 7th_Chakra
How can man, whos brain has evolved in a 3D world since he could think understand something as VAST as the universe?

And as complex as another dimension. My theoretical answer is as simple as it is disturbing. Our imagination (whatever that means) isn't bound by the same rules as the world we live in.

thanks for the answers. I understand what your saying about our imagination, but 'REAL' sciencists have a hard time dealing like that (from what I can tell).

The thread is a great read

Old thread deserving of a BUMP. Elegant Universe is excellant! Anyone who hasn't seen it, and has an interest in Science(especially the Theoretical Stuff) Has GOT to watch this.

I would only show this video in a classroom of extremely unmotivated students. The subjects are somewhat interesting, at most, but offer no real educational background.

Not only that, but Greene is a bit of a hack.

Originally posted by T_Jesus
I would only show this video in a classroom of extremely unmotivated students. The subjects are somewhat interesting, at most, but offer no real educational background.

Not only that, but Greene is a bit of a hack.

Thats exactly what this kind of video's and nature channel programs are for. Not really educational(although some are a good start for people) they are mainly ment to spark people's interests in the sciences and workings of the universe.

Getting people interrested in something is usualy half the work these days.

[edit on 20-5-2005 by thematrix]

I really enjoyed the series it goes about 2 or 3 ft over my head most of time but I still enjoyed
I did well in math till they took out all the numbers

Originally posted by halfhand
I really enjoyed the series it goes about 2 or 3 ft over my head most of time but I still enjoyed
I did well in math till they took out all the numbers

The "I did well in math till they took out all the numbers" part of what you said really struck me as funny...

Alot of people share the same mentality...