String Theory in a nut shell...

String Theory
Though the happenings of the research happening in CERN scientists are constantly thinking up of new possibilities that would help us redefine how we perceive the universe 


First of all take a moment to look in front of you at the picture on screen. Now look to your left (at your mountain of books) and right (to your mug of tea/coffee) sides. Now up and down. These three spatial dimensions represent everything in our universe. Add time and we know live in a four-dimensional world. This is what is known as the Space-time Continuum – three dimensions of space (height, width, and length) and time. But have you ever wondered if there are additional dimensions that escape our observation? That there is something else out there? What is space made up of?


There are two areas of research that we don't know much about and where research over the next twenty years will slowly uncover their mysteries and by the time this is posted there will be information that could of been proved wrong or would have been updated but here we go... the two fields are: Quantum Mechanics and String Theory. In this article I'm going to try and discuss String Theory and why we think all things are made up of tiny strings. String Theory is a contender for The Theory of Everything (thought up by Albert Einstein on his death bed) and it is based on the principle that all things are made up of tiny 1-dimensional superstrings. It is also a emerging branch of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativy that explains that the sub-atomic particles are in really tiny bits of energy that vibarate and are in one-dimensions.  


String Theory offers amazing possibilities and holds potential to explain all matter and forces of nature from sub-atomic particles to galaxies. String theory is a leading candidate to for a unified "Theory of Everything" . A theory so powerful it holds potential to describe the workings of our universe, why it is the way it is. 


The History
The first ever String Theory was formulated in the late 1960s and was called Bosonic String theory. However, soon afterwards it was abandoned as it predicted the existence of a particle that we don't believe to exist and it predict only the position of boson whereas most physical particles are fermions. Then along came the Superstring Theory which predicted a 10-dimensional universe. This was then split in to five versions of this theory. However, all these versions seemed to be right but this wasn't possible. Here, we introduce Edward Witten who has been hailed as the next Einstein. He looked at all these theories and decided that they were all different ways of saying the same thing. He then went on to unite these theories in what we call M-Theory which is based on a 11-dimensional universe. This is just a very basic article on string theory behind string theory, but for more advanced reading go to the CERN website .

How Does an Aircraft Fly?

How does an Airplane fly? Every day of our lives, we hear or see at least one type of aircraft sore above our heads. Most of us travel on one once a year to make a journey of over a hundred miles to another country in an hour or two on an airplane. But how can a standard 737 (which weighs roughly 50 kg per square meter) resist the force of gravity. How can it soar at 35,000 feet at a speed of 500 miles per hour. In this article I will talk about the science behind flying in heavier than air machines. There are two factors that prevent an airplane from flying. These are weight (preventing a plane from rising) and drag (preventing it from moving forward. For an airplane to fly, these factors must be equalled out be another two which are produced by the airplane. These are lift (created by the wings and other parts) and thrust (created by the engines. The following equations below must be obeyed to take off from the ground. - Drag < Thrust (to move forward) - Weight < Lift (to rise) Now let's look at each component individually. Drag is caused by friction with the air. As an airplane flies, its body brushes against the different air molecules creating friction. This slows the plane down. Thrust is the opposite of drag as it is used to propel a body forward. It is created using Newton's third law of motion. It states that when one force goes one way, a force of equal strength must go the other way. Hence thrust is created by huge engines pulling and pushing huge amounts of air out the back. Therefore, an equal force must go the other way. Weight is caused by gravity. The mass of an object depends upon what it is made up of and the weight of an object is this number in kilograms multiplied by the gravitational field strength of the Earth which is roughly 9.8 N/kg. Einstein proposed General Relatity in 1915 which states that a body curves Sapce-Time and this curvature pulls bodies into the object. This is known as gravity. We counter gravity by using lift. We generate lift by angling the the wings so that it pushes air down. Newton's third law comes in to play again here as the air is pushed down, another force must go up. IN other words, the plane rises. Of course, Lift doesn't have to be more than weight when its cruising as the pilot will want to remain level so the the lift will be equal the weight. So next time you are watching a plane cruise in to the sky, remember the physics behind this way of travelling that has been attempted many times for centuries that has now become a reality.