The Big Fight Of Physics
Early in the 20th century when Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr were head to head on for a battle of physics; relativity against quantum mechanics we knew a very little to where these two theories would take us. Quantum mechanics describing the fundamental particles , their motion and behaviour seems today outlandish in areas proven by the experimental facts and data that have been mounted and critically analysed by scientists around the World. Whereas the theory of relativity describing the particles moving at high speeds, gravity , the motion of space-time and the fragility of the notion that itself space behaves as a fabric was none other than fancier. But time and again these two theories have proven right in the experiments conducted to prove them. Vamos, but there remained puzzle in the scientists that with so much rivalries to start with, will these two great theories be ever able to merge and form a grander theory , “The theory of Everything”.
When Albert Einstein was in the last days of life, he stated that he wanted to see a theory that would describe all events of physics, include all force and all force fields. He was trying hard to theorise that General and Special relativity would be a clue to that. With the help of other pioneering scientists he kept on trying but one thing his theory could not explain was the strange behaviour of atomic particles and the experimental projects done that time were pointing towards something else. He was unwilling to accept the quantum mechanics which could describe those weird behaviour of atomic particles because the theory was probabilistic. So, once on a fierce battle with Bohr he said “ God doesn’t throw a dice on the table.”
Early 1920s was the pioneering era of quantum mechanics. With experimental detection of various elemental particles of atom and the strange characteristics they were exhibiting. The double slit experiment, Rutherford’s scattering experiment, dual nature of atoms and light itself exhibiting dual characteristics puzzled scientists that these particles were doing something that no theory that time was sufficient to describe in different experimental layouts. Following decades, with detection of other fundamental particles and experiments to prove the nature they exhibit provided scientists with notion that these particle should be differently described using different sets of rules and theories.
Whatever and However these theories started with , today are are placed among one of the brilliant ideas of physics. The Quantum theory has from that date when Bohr started the concept has been upsized, added and formulated in such a way that the complexities describe the fundamental particles at its best and the evolution of new era was possible due to those minute understanding of particles inside atom. Many scientists have contributed to building various aspects and wings of the theory. The Relativity theory remains almost the same as only new facts have been discovered using it that explains the origin, evolution and expansion of the Universe in a grander scale. Today scientists are involved in a more big dig, as Einstein dreamed in his last years of life to formulate unification theory.
One of such contenders of the theory is the String theory where fundamental particle of nature has been described as a string. It can take any shape and the vibrate at any given frequency. Listening to this may make us seem this might be it, as it is, but is it really? Well today scientists have different versions of the string theory and each of those suffers from its own problems. The major problem being the unification of General Relativity and Quantum mechanics without which how will gravity act on elemental particles of nature cannot be explained. The big problem they are exposed to is that General relativity is not probabilistic while quantum mechanics is all about probability. While general relativity says the moon is where it is at the given time, however the quantum mechanics says it can be anywhere within a certain gravitational field from earth at the given time.(This is just a illustrative example of the concept, as quantum mechanics will not apply to large masses due to its restrictions.)
So, when scientists are puzzled in the string theory itself, will they be able to unify the quantum and gravity. Had there been Bohr and Einstein, they might have different ideas or perhaps one of the theory would have been lashed out.
