anyone know how to explain string theory to an 8yr old?

[baddad]

Hey ho...

 

While eating tea tonight, Ben asked: Is real time like a film, with lots of little squares which change a tiny bit at a time?

 

Choking on my liver and bacon bought me a couple of precious seconds, but coughing fit over i had to try and explain the concept of linear progression, touching on 'string theory', existentialism (incidently, an Aussie friend of mine recently e-mailed that she was 'going out with an existentialist'... I quickly sent back - No HE is going out with you... she concurred... ) and fractals/chaos theory...

Picking back up on the 'movie roll' theory Ben had put forward, I said that most movies had a 'script' where we just make it up as we go along... I asked who he thought wrote our script (thinking he might say 'God'), to which he replied, "Roald Dahl"......

 

God, i wish he'd ask me some easy stuff like where do babies come from!!!

Does anyone know if they've produced a Reader Rabbit version of 'a brief history of time' yet???

 

L&P

 

BD BOGGLE

[bid]

When I was a child, I can remember wondering whether the past was still happening 'behind' the present, and the future happening 'in front' of the present...IYSWIM

 

Probably no help at all!!

 

As an adult I don't have enough spare time to wonder about that sort of thing anymore!!

 

Biddy McBoggle

[redberry]

We live in a wonderfully complex universe, and we are curious about it by nature. Time and again we have wondered--- why are we here? Where did we and the world come from? What is the world made of? It is our privilege to live in a time when enormous progress has been made towards finding some of the answers. String theory is our most recent attempt to answer the last (and part of the second) question.

 

So, what is the world made of? Ordinary matter is made of atoms, which are in turn made of just three basic components: electrons whirling around a nucleus composed of neutrons and protons. The electron is a truly fundamental particle (it is one of a family of particles known as leptons), but neutrons and protons are made of smaller particles, known as quarks. Quarks are, as far as we know, truly elementary.

 

Our current knowledge about the subatomic composition of the universe is summarized in what is known as the Standard Model of particle physics. It describes both the fundamental building blocks out of which the world is made, and the forces through which these blocks interact. There are twelve basic building blocks. Six of these are quarks--- they go by the interesting names of up, down, charm, strange, bottom and top. (A proton, for instance, is made of two up quarks and one down quark.) The other six are leptons--- these include the electron and its two heavier siblings, the muon and the tauon, as well as three neutrinos.

 

There are four fundamental forces in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Each of these is produced by fundamental particles that act as carriers of the force. The most familiar of these is the photon, a particle of light, which is the mediator of electromagnetic forces. (This means that, for instance, a magnet attracts a nail because both objects exchange photons.) The graviton is the particle associated with gravity. The strong force is carried by eight particles known as gluons. Finally, the weak force is transmitted by three particles, the W+, the W- , and the Z.

 

The behavior of all of these particles and forces is described with impeccable precision by the Standard Model, with one notable exception: gravity. For technical reasons, the gravitational force, the most familiar in our every day lives, has proven very difficult to describe microscopically. This has been for many years one of the most important problems in theoretical physics-- to formulate a quantum theory of gravity.

 

In the last few decades, string theory has emerged as the most promising candidate for a microscopic theory of gravity. And it is infinitely more ambitious than that: it attempts to provide a complete, unified, and consistent description of the fundamental structure of our universe. (For this reason it is sometimes, quite arrogantly, called a 'Theory of Everything').

 

The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different 'fundamental ' particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string. How can that be? Well, we would ordinarily picture an electron, for instance, as a point with no internal structure. A point cannot do anything but move. But, if string theory is correct, then under an extremely powerful 'microscope' we would realize that the electron is not really a point, but a tiny loop of string. A string can do something aside from moving--- it can oscillate in different ways. If it oscillates a certain way, then from a distance, unable to tell it is really a string, we see an electron. But if it oscillates some other way, well, then we call it a photon, or a quark, or a ... you get the idea. So, if string theory is correct, the entire world is made of strings!

 

 

That do ya!

 

redberry

[Viper]

not really what you want but I remember wondering if things were still there if we couldn't see them.

I used to sit on the sofa with a cup of tea on the floor and every now and then try to catch it out. I would suddenly look down to see if I could catch it not there.

 

Strange the things we think when we are kids, even stranger as this was only last week.

[Kathryn]

Redberry,

 

 

I'm going to come back and read your post in the morning when the brain cell is fully functioning, because it sounds interesting.

 

Kathryn (Arts graduate - although I did get A level biology )

[LKS]

crikey baddad when you mentioned string theory I thought you wanted to know why it manages to knot itself up when you've put it away neatly, bit like christmas tree lights

[Zemanski]

A good basic primer for chaos theory is "When a Little Bug went 'Ka Choo'". by Dr. Seuss

An excellent read for young and old.

This calls itself a beginner's guide.

or

String Theory - featuring Bugs Funny and Chaffy Duck

And there's always The Cartoon Guide to Physics - one of a series of well-written primers on Life, the universe and everything

 

enjoy

 

nemo

[Suze]

..................well I thought "string theory"........was that terrible misdemeanor of letting the old thong ride a bit high over the old low rise jeans...............

[UltraMum]

I thought string theory would answer the question - "How long is a piece of string?"

[lancelot]

In some languages, the past happens 'in front'of you, and the future is 'behind' you -- because you can see what has happened, but not what's about to happen.

 

Could explain why events just seem to loom up behind me till I walk into them backwards, I suppose!

[DaisyProudfoot]

When you've finished - can you explain it to me too

 

Got confused by Redberry's description after the first paragraph

 

Probably got something to do with the laws of physics which I don't understand but I DO know that "you canna break them"

[redberry]

The piece I posted, although could have been written by moi ...erm wasn't.

It was something I had downloaded cos Im interested in that kind of thang!

 

Because A Little Bug went Ka choo! is one all time classic! Zemanski, I just read that story to my son a couple of nights ago...even though he would rather How To be a Pirate.

 

sorry for the deception

redberry

[polkadotty]

damn! and i was so impressed redberry!! Can ikeep on being impressed and think i'm conversing with stephen hawking????

 

if you are interested in that kinda thing, maybe you could help me find some useful stuff for my almost 8 yr old, who asks me similar questions. his big crunch question at the moment is: when we run along the ground is the world turning the same speed as if we run int he opposite direction to the way the world is turning? Like a treadmill, he says he imagines that we make the road go along, and the houses go past, rather than moving ourselves. And if everybody on one side of the world jumped inthe air, would we move the earth a little bit?

 

I used to think that America wasn't really real, as a child, and that it was made up on films. I used to wonder about time a lot too: i worried that it was like a tape, and that things that happened a long time ago got wound up inside us like the layers of an onion. I was always worried that i'd forget something that happened to me, and i always wanted to remember everything and everyone.

 

Now i'm a mother of 3 and terminally forgetful, i'm amazed i am ever anywhere i'm supposed to be..... barely remember my own name these days.

 

dotty. (easier to remember)

[sue1957]

So, if string theory is correct, the entire world is made of strings!

 

redberry

 

I remember seeing a programme a couple of years ago about string theory. Didn't really get it, because if everything is made of strings then er..... where did the strings come from? As for the big bang, where did what went bang come from.....

 

I sometimes feel like I'm stepping between parallel universes when dealing with the school...... Dunno which theory that fits!

 

Think I'll go watch the Matrix. Makes it so much clearer.

[littlenemo]

I remember seeing a programme a couple of years ago about string theory. Didn't really get it, because if everything is made of strings then er..... where did the strings come from? As for the big bang, where did what went bang come from.....

 

From what i remember (probably from the same programme) the Big Bang was caused by the collision of two superstrings, according to the theory. Apparently it happens all the time, creating a new universe each time. And I vaguely remember it saying that strings are like ripples in water, but made from energy, so they were probably created by the shockwave of the initial collision . Probably... Either that or God 's throwing little energy pebbles into the cosmic energy pool (in a very Zen sort of way )

 

The strangest email I ever got was from a professor of String theory asking permission to use my work in one of his papers . my work was on celtic knotwork , but he never sent me a copy of his paper, so i never learned what happens when a cosmic string gets knotted

(cue baddad )

[Richt]

Forgive me if I take it too seriously

 

String theory is fully explained by the Movie "Donnie Darko" where past and present meet in conflict. If you understand that film, you understand.

 

If like me you haven't the foggiest what it was about and just cry when Donnie finally realises he has to die to protect the present - more importantly his girlfriend, sister and mother - or the old witch. (soundtrack "Mad World" - was it Tears for Fears?)

 

It's probably very Oediopal. The knots that tie us together are profound and only Ulysese understood the gordion knot in mythology, he cut it with a sword, literally cutting all the cr*p, dilemma and worry.

 

Dunno if it helps

[redberry]

Dotty. How does this sound?

 

How fast does the earth move? Well in relation to what?

If you want to know how fast the surface of the earth is moving in respect to its centre...then the earth turns once every 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.09053 seconds ( the Sidereal period ) its roughly 40,075 kilometres around its middle.......so.....the surface of the earth at the equator moves at a speed of 460 metres a second

 

Roughly 1,000 miles per hour

 

Our earth moves around the sun in an almost circular dance covering this route at a speed of...nearly.........30 kilometres per hour..67,000 miles an hour! <'>

 

Then..get ready

Our solar system including our gorgeous earth whirls around the centre of our galaxy at 220 kilometres PER SECOND ( for goodness sake this is incredible!)

Or 490,000 Miles per hour!!!!

 

So hey is America real?

 

answers on a post card please

 

redberry

[Richt]

Red

 

I think the Pythons had a similar answer:

 

Just remember that your standing on a planet thats evolving,

and revolving at 900mph.

 

It's orbiting at 90 miles a second, so it's reckoned

A sun that is the source of all our power.

 

The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,

are moving at a million miles a day.

 

In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,

of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

 

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.

It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.

 

It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,

But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.

 

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.

 

We go 'round every two hundred million years,

And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions

 

In this amazing and expanding universe.

 

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz.

 

As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,

Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

 

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,

How amazingly unlikely is your birth,

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,

'Cause there's ###### all down here on Earth.

 

from Galaxy by Monty Python. (one of the best songs in the world)

[Guest hallyscomet]

Richt

 

Love Monty Python

 

Hailey

[LKS]

Richt Donnie Darko is my 11 year old AS son's favourite film, he watches it a lot

[redberry]

Red

 

I think the Pythons had a similar answer:

 

Just remember that your standing on a planet thats evolving,

and revolving at 900mph.

 

It's orbiting at 90 miles a second, so it's reckoned

A sun that is the source of all our power.

 

The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,

are moving at a million miles a day.

 

In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,

of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

 

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.

It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.

 

It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,

But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.

 

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.

 

We go 'round every two hundred million years,

And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions

 

In this amazing and expanding universe.

 

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz.

 

As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,

Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

 

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,

How amazingly unlikely is your birth,

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,

'Cause there's ###### all down here on Earth.

 

from Galaxy by Monty Python. (one of the best songs in the world)

 

fanbl**dytastic!

 

thanks

redberry

[DaisyProudfoot]

I love that Python song! One of my favs along with "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" of course.

 

The Pythons

[littlenemo]

"So... can we have your liver then?"

[smiley]

Gotta' love Monty Python Thanks Richt

 

"One minute i'm a leper with a trade - next minute my lively-hoods gone - 'Your cured mate' - bl**dy do gooder" ...... Gets me every time

 

Oops - edited to say - BD hun, sorry havent a clue!! Good luck with that one then......

 

'Oh, so helpful Smiley'

Edited March 15, 2006 by smileymab

[Richt]

LKS

 

I don't want to bring it down and cut off discussion (again) but what a scary film for an 11 yr old to like. But then again, is it a scary film?

 

To me it is.

 

I'd much rather watch the bloke who hasn't spoken for years complaining that Brian stood on his foot and then encouraged everyone to eat his Juniper berries.

 

Or the three wise men

 

"Wise, walking around a cowshed at midnight, don't call that very wise" "Myrhh - that's a wild animal it is"

 

Despite it being free with the Times (so plainly mainstream)- does anyone know what Donnie was about? Does it matter?

 

R

[LKS]

Richt

Must admit I've never watched it but son watched it with older brother and sister. I had heard it was quite scary but my son did not find it so at all. Perhaps when you are 11 you find different things scary, like nasty teachers I think my older NT son has found a site somwhere that 'explains' Donnie Darko. When he gets up I will ask him.

[Richt]

For anyone who is interested, my interpretation:

 

Donnie should die, but he doesn't

He then lives the next few weeks, and realises he's not supposed to be there

All the changes to the space time continuum etc

His girlfriend dies ( but she shouldn't have been his girlfriend, because he should have been dead, so she shouldn't have died)

He goes back in time and dies at the right time, so everything is restored to normal.

 

I think it goes deeper than this, whether it was intended to I dunno.

 

If anyone has any idea what it was about, please post - does it matter?

 

Richt

[Guest flutter]

i have been reading this off and on for a bit trying to understand it all,

i know i cant,

my nt son loves donny darko, as the butterfly effect, and has said that i cant watch it cos will confuse and upset me, i cannot do time. travel and time, and time continium!

kinda meeses me up when they all into sci fi here lol

[DaisyProudfoot]

You want to watch a confusing film about time travel and string theory etc try PRIMER - that is one spaced-out film, but I would definitely watch it again. See link below

 

http://www.primermovie.com/story.html

[Richt]

Good call Daisy, I need to see that film

 

R

[rickrum]

Very Slowly.

[littlenemo]

Thanks for that, Daisy.

Torrentspy has it, so there will be something worth watching here on saturday night

There aren't enough movies made by mathematicians these days

 

nemo

[Canopus]

There was a really good Equinox programme from the 1990s about string theory. I can't find the video.

[Flora]

Talking about strings and knots, this thread has done that to my brain, tied it in knots!

 

Lauren

[littlenemo]

There was a really good Equinox programme from the 1990s about string theory. I can't find the video.

It was brilliant - explained it all in a simple, easy to understand way, as it had done 10 years earlier explaining Chaos theory. They were so good that people kept borrowing the tapes I'd made until the inevitable happened - someone didn't return them and I couldn't remember who .

I wonder if they're available online...

[DaisyProudfoot]

There's a Horizon programme on UKTV Documentary RIGHT NOW about String Theory and Parallel Universes introduced by Micchu Paku (the physicist from the Time series).

 

Seen it before and remember it was really good so watching again

[Zemanski]

Daisy

Thanks for the link to Primer - watched it the night before last. And Donnie Darko last night Both excellent films for different reasons, though I'm still not sure what happened at the end of Primer - or was it the beginning?

 

nemo