Michio Kaku Explains The Mysteries of String Theory & Quantum Physics

what are the fundamental  constituents that make up our world   what is all the matter in the universe made  of what theory provides a description of the   physical properties of nature at  the scale of subatomic particles what theory best describes everything  can there be a Theory of Everything   American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku is  the author of several books about physics and   has worked on research on quantum mechanics he has  a unique way of explaining things that make hard   Concepts such as quantum physics and string  theory seem apprehensible to us mere mortals   what I do for a living is string theory that's my  day job and you see string theory is a Multiverse   Theory so people say first of all what is string  theory String Theory simply says that all the   particles we see in nature the electron the  proton the quarks what have you another thing   with vibrations on a musical string on a tiny tiny  little string you know gee Robert Oppenheimer the   creator of the atomic bomb was so frustrated in  the 1950s with all these subatomic particles being   created in our atom Smashers that he announced he  announced one day that the Nobel Prize in physics   should go to the physicist who does not discover  a new particle that year well today we think that   nothing but musical notes on these tiny little  vibrating strings so what is physics physics is   the harmonies you can write on vibrating strings  what is chemistry chemistry is The Melodies you   can play on these strings what is the universe the  universe is a symphony of strings things this is   the Mysterious World of quantum physics as we  explore the strange and fascinating phenomena   of the subatomic world where particles behave  in ways that defy our everyday understanding   of reality we will oversimplify these Concepts  and hopefully you will forgive us for doing so   because there is nothing harder to understand in  science than quantum physics as Richard fireman   once said if you think you understand quantum  mechanics you don't understand quantum mechanics   at the heart of the quantum World lies the atom  the building blocks of matter that were once   thought to be indivisible but as physicists delve  deeper into the atomic World they discovered that   particles don't behave like the everyday objects  we encounter in the quantum World particles exist   in a cloud of probability they can be in two  places at once and have a mysterious connection   that Einstein called spooky action at a distance  to make things even more bizarre particles seem to   be influenced by The Observer as if they are aware  of being watched but that's not all String Theory   takes us even deeper into the Mysterious World  of subatomic particles according to this Theory   particles are not tiny dots but tiny strings  that vibrate at different frequencies creating   the variety of particles that make up our universe  it's fascinating to think that thousands of years   ago ancient Greek philosophers such as Democritus  attempted to understand the atomic World using   reason and logic you know Pythagoras was a rival  of democracies democracies talked about Adams   2000 years ago and Pythagoras said no no music  is the language of the universe so you look at   a liar string and said look at the vibrations  each vibration corresponds to a musical note   the universe is music the universe is created by  vibrating things each vibration corresponds to a   note he went to a blacksmith where there were long  bars of metal and they were clanging These Bars of   metal he realized that the longer the metal the  lower the note there's a relationship between the   length of the object its strength and the note  and then he looked at a liar string and he said   the longer the liar string the lower the note and  then he said this is the universe what explains   the diversity what Paradigm is Rich enough to  explain the diversity of the entire universe   atoms but what makes atoms different and then he  said it's music but then they never went anywhere   because of course the atomic theory wasn't created  for another 2000 years but finally with the atomic   theory we now have subatomic particles but why  do we have so many subatomic particles they're   nothing but musical notes on a tiny tiny little  vibrating string so this is the electron vibrates   this way this is a quark this is a neutrino so why  do we have so many particles in the particle Zoo   the nothing but vibrations on a tiny string string  theory has also led to some intriguing ideas such   as the possibility of a Multiverse where our  universe is just one of many while this idea   is purely theoretical it shows that the quest to  understand the subatomic world is far from over   some of the greatest Minds in science have  struggled to understand quantum theory   one of the most notable was Albert Einstein  who believed in a hidden reality that we   can't directly observe he rejected the idea of  entanglement but as experiments continued to prove   the validity of quantum theory Einstein's views  became increasingly marginalized when I was eight   something happened to me as well it was in all the  papers that a great scientist had just died and   they put a picture of his desk on the front page  that's it just a simple picture of the front page   of the newspapers of his desk that desk had a book  on it which was opened and the caption said more   or less this is the unfinished manuscript from  the greatest scientists of our time so I said to   myself well why couldn't he finish it what's  so hard that you can't finish it if you're a   great scientist it's a homework problem right  why couldn't he solve it so to me this was a   murder mystery this was greater than any adventure  story I had to know why the greatest scientists   of our time couldn't finish something and then  over the years I found out the guy had a name   Albert Einstein and that book was the theory of  everything it was unfinished well today I can read   that book I can see all the dead ends and false  starts that he made and I began to realize that   he lost his way because he didn't have a physical  picture to guide him on the third try on the first   try he talked about clocks and lightning bolts and  meter sticks and that gave us special relativity   which gave us the atomic bomb the second great  picture was gravity with balls rolling on curved   surfaces and that gave us the Big Bang creation  of the universe black holes on the third try he   missed it he had no picture at all to guide him  well today we think that picture is string theory   String Theory also proposes the existence of extra  Dimensions beyond the three we are familiar with   it's a mind-bending concept that raises the  possibility of multiple universes each with   their own set of physical laws these parallel  universes also known as the Multiverse are a   popular Topic in science fiction but they are  also a serious area of study for scientists   the idea is that every time there is a  decision to be made the universe splits   off in two or more possible outcomes each  occurring within its own separate universe   String Theory could also help explain the mystery  of Dark Matter this mysterious substance makes   up around 27 percent of the universe but we  can't directly observe it one explanation is   that dark matter is made up of particles known  as wimps weakly interacting massive particles   which could be produced by the vibrations  of strings while there is still so much we   don't know about String Theory it is opened up  new avenues of research and shown us that the   universe is far more complex and wondrous than we  ever imagined however String Theory ought to be   more accurate the string hypothesis has also been  heavily criticized by the scientific community   one of the main criticisms is that it is difficult  to test or falsify it the theory requires the   existence of extra Dimensions beyond the three  we are familiar with but these dimensions are too   small to be observed directly another criticism  is that the theory is yet to make any predictions   that can be verified through experiments despite  Decades of research and numerous mathematical   developments string theory has not produced any  definitive results that can be tested in the lab   some scientists argue that the theory is overly  complex and convoluted requiring the existence   of multiple universes and exotic particles that  have yet to be observed while string theory has   the potential to revolutionize our understanding  of the universe it is important to approach it   with a critical eye and to continue to explore  alternative explanations for the mysteries of   the subatomic world I would say that any  field of research when it's new yeah it's   going to track attention and the news outlets are  going to cover it and students are going to flock   to it sure but as a field matures it does shed  those qualities because it's no longer as novel   as it was when it was first introduced 30 or 40  years ago but you need to judge it by a different   standard you need to judge it by is it making  progress on foundational issues deepening our   understanding of the subject and by that measure  string theory is scoring in very high now at the   same time you also need to judge whether it  makes contact with experiment two and in that   measure we're still challenged so I would say  that many string theorists myself included are   very sober about the theory it has the tremendous  progress that it had 30 40 years ago that hasn't   gone away but we've become better equipped  at assessing the long journey ahead [Music]

Channel: Science Time

Views: 317,976

Keywords: michio kaku, string theory, quantum physics, michio kaku string theory, michio kaku quantum physics, quantum mechanics, michio kaku quantum mechanics, theoratical physics, particle physics, the universe, string theory explained, cosmology, multiverse, unified field theory, superstring theory, entanglement, Einstein's theory of relativity, space-time, black holes, dark matter, Big Bang theory, science, time, science time

Id: mzuQKQ2Wy3E

Length: 10min 18sec (618 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 18 2023