Stuck in the snow, pondering the Universe.

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weeman

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So I am tired of seeing snow. All it has done In Denver for the last week is snow. 24 inches last week, another foot today, and probably an additional foot or more is on the way tomorrow. <br /><br />Oooohhhh space.com message board, thanks for being here to keep me happy <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Anyways, I have recently begun to read about String Theory, which seems to be known as M Theory in more modern times. It is amazing that these vibrations of energy are what might make up all matter in the Universe.<br /><br />After scientists first discovered that atoms are not the smallest things in the Universe, the desire to discover the smallest things in existence became huge. What makes up everything in the Universe? If an atom is not the smallest, what makes up an atom? What makes up the things that make an atom?<br /><br />I think it is hard for humans to imagine something being made up of nothing, so how can atoms and qwarks exist without being made up of anything else? <br /><br />String Theory has been a radical, theoretical discovery, because it might give us these answers.<br /><br />One thing I'm not sure about is if Strings and Quantum Vibrations are the same thing? Or are they two completely different things? <br /><br />This is a topic that I am not familiar with. Although I understand the basics of it, I have never really gathered much knowledge on the subject. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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enigma10

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The smallest thing in the universe is called a <font color="red">figment</font> The reasoning behind this is that whomever discovers the next smallest particle in the universe, will be greeted with the absolutism of something smaller yet existing. Until that particle is discovered, it will be a <font color="red">figment</font>of his imaginaition. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>
 
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vandivx

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"I think it is hard for humans to imagine something being made up of nothing, so how can atoms and qwarks exist without being made up of anything else?<br />------------------------<br />I have no problem with there being some final building block of atoms<br /><br />"String Theory has been a radical, theoretical discovery, because it might give us these answers."<br />-----------------------<br />that's unwarranted faith in theory driven precisely by its fogginess, there is hope in fogginess as there is in unknown, incomprehensible, one such example is religion<br /><br />btw we got an inch of snow here today, first time this winter and its supposed to melt in couple days, apparently the wicked get all the snow this winter LOL<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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larper

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Hmmm. How many of us Denverites are here? <br /><br />I made it to work just fine this morning. No problem. But, I grew up in Rochester NY, so this stuff is like being a kid again. The only problem is that Denver has no clue on how to actually handle such a storm becuase it happens so rarely. Rochester, on the other hand, had plenty of plows. I remember as a kid being woken up by the plow driving by around 5:30 am in our neighborhood, which today would be called a subdivision or tract housing.<br /><br />Don't get me started on how people around here have no clue on how to actually drive in this stuff. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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Here in NW NJ, this will be the first time in 15 years with no measureable snow by the end of December.<br />As a snow geek, it's very depressing.<br />It makes my brane ( <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) hurt as much as string theory does <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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weeman

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The roads aren't too terrible at this point. What really sucks is trying to get in and out of the parking lot to my apartment complex. It's like a driving on a freakin 4 wheeling trail! <br /><br />Anyways, to get back on track with the subject. From what I understand these Strings are pure energy? If they were pure energy, then we might say that energy is, in a way, the smallest thing in the Universe? What is a particle of pure energy? How infinitely small is it?<br /><br />Even though String Theory is just a theory, I think it can be very important for the future discoveries of particle physics. The massive, physical Universe that we see through our telescopes, might hold many more clues to the origin of its existence. However, we might find just as many answers to the creation of everthing in the very very very smallest things in the Universe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>
 
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alkalin

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In my view the micro world is far different than the statistical nature of reality that we know. I seriously doubt that by knowing a particle’s vibes we can determine what is going on at the macro levels with one possible exception, and that is a better understanding of why there is a speed of light, c.<br /><br />But matching up some form of math to the micro world is a good effort at a start of describing small particle behavior which may turn out to be far more complicated than we think. I do not think string math has come far enough to be very accurate yet, due to our lack of knowing exactly what is going on. I think there is evidence that small particles all exhibit wave behavior, but yet has not been adequately described since those waves are in constant vibration which affects all nearby other particles. This is evident in the Michelson-Morley experiments. To further complicate the picture all particles are also in motion. And notice I use the term particle to describe the duel nature of small particles, the wave and the particle, which is true of photons as well, BTW. Where math shows a serious weakness is in describing electrons as a point. We have a lot of work to get away from that kind of thinking in current physics. I feel a serious stumbling block is that there is the notion that somehow nature can be described in some simple math, which leads to all sorts of dead ends. But what do I know?<br />
 
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alkalin

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I forgot to mention that while living on the farm in South Dakota one year we got over thirty inches of snow on the ground that made it difficult to walk a few feet to get the chores done. We were snowed in for about three months where we had to rely on our own for survival. But we usually prepared fairly well for this knowing it could happen.<br /><br />
 
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docm

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Once my parents were snowed in on the farm by a 24" blizzard with 60+ mph winds. Snow drifts up to the power lines & 2nd story windows. They had to be taken out by an armored personnel carrier led in by a National Guard tank equipped with a <i><b>humongous</b></i> snowplow <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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arcane_raven

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something made of nothing . as in trying to acually comprehend time how did something begin from nothing.
 
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