However, the strings in string theory are floating in spacetime, they are not tied down to a violin. As in violin playing, the string must be stretched under tension in order to become excited. In string theory, the elementary particles we observe in particle accelerators could be thought of as the “musical notes” or frequency nodes of elementary strings. The average size of a string is near the length scale of quantum gravity, called the Planck length, which is about 10 - 33 centimeters, or about a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter, which means that strings are way too small to see by current particle physics technology and so particle theorists must devise more ingenuous methods to test the theory than just looking for such incredibly small strings in particle experiments. Where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, G is the gravitational constant, and ħ = 1 is the reduced Planck constant. On the fundamental mass scale, the tension of a string is related to the characteristic mass scale of gravity, namely the Plank mass, One important result of string theory is that gravity is a natural consequence of the theory, which is why scientists think that string theory may hold the answer to possibly uniting gravity with the other forces that affect matter. All the numerous particles discovered are really the same kinds of strings, just vibrating in different ways. Vibrate it another way, and you get a proton. Vibrate a string one way and you get an electron. These periods of oscillations or frequency determine what sort of “particle” each string appears to be. Just like the strings on a violin, these strings are under tension, which means they vibrate at different frequencies, depending on their size or mass. The various particles discovered in the 20 th century are the same type of string. Typically, these strings are so small, they seem to be small points. Electrons are not actually particles at all, instead they are loops or “strings”. It is in this same spirit we address string theory: “Why not as high as the Moon?” The concept of string theory is quite simple. According to Conduitt’s account, Newton then asked: “Why not as high as the Moon?”. According to John Conduitt, who was married to Newton’s niece, seeing the apple fall led Newton to the idea that the gravitational force “was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought”. Newton wanted to explore this idea further. Physicists knew that the Earth somehow pulled objects down by the force of gravity. The story goes that a young Issac Newton was walking in a garden when he saw an apple fall from a tree.
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