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darrenjb
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I am going to get laughed out of this forum but at least it will put my mind to rest when this happens. I've been thinking about this for a few years now and what better place for an answer than a physics forum?
Amongst many other things I have read A Brief History of Time seven or eight times and a takeaway from this book is that a big challenge for physics is trying to link the theories of quantum physics and relativity. As I understand it this is a challenge which is still ongoing today. A theory of everything.
I have a question which is that maybe these theories are unrelated and do not need to be linked?
To explain with my rudimentary understanding of physics..
There are four forces, the electromagnetic, the weak nuclear, the strong nuclear and the gravitational. Quantum physics is a theory for the first three of these and relativity is a theory for the last.
In quantum physics the interactions between particles can be explained by the electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces and the properties of fields.
In relativity there is no force of gravity. There is no gravitational field. Objects with mass appear to be attracted to each other not through the action of any force but by the bending of space / time. For example some of the common explanations of relativity: Objects with mass travel in a straight line in space time, but it is the bending of space time which makes them appear to be affected by gravity. A planet orbiting a star is like a basketball rolling around a bowling ball on a rubber membrane - it would like to go in a straight line if not for the bowling ball which makes it look like it is orbiting.
So a question I would really like to have answered is if quantum mechanics is dealing with forces and fields, and relativity is dealing with the bending of space time, are they dealing in any way with the same thing? Should there be a theory of everything which links them together or is this unnecessary?
Amongst many other things I have read A Brief History of Time seven or eight times and a takeaway from this book is that a big challenge for physics is trying to link the theories of quantum physics and relativity. As I understand it this is a challenge which is still ongoing today. A theory of everything.
I have a question which is that maybe these theories are unrelated and do not need to be linked?
To explain with my rudimentary understanding of physics..
There are four forces, the electromagnetic, the weak nuclear, the strong nuclear and the gravitational. Quantum physics is a theory for the first three of these and relativity is a theory for the last.
In quantum physics the interactions between particles can be explained by the electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces and the properties of fields.
In relativity there is no force of gravity. There is no gravitational field. Objects with mass appear to be attracted to each other not through the action of any force but by the bending of space / time. For example some of the common explanations of relativity: Objects with mass travel in a straight line in space time, but it is the bending of space time which makes them appear to be affected by gravity. A planet orbiting a star is like a basketball rolling around a bowling ball on a rubber membrane - it would like to go in a straight line if not for the bowling ball which makes it look like it is orbiting.
So a question I would really like to have answered is if quantum mechanics is dealing with forces and fields, and relativity is dealing with the bending of space time, are they dealing in any way with the same thing? Should there be a theory of everything which links them together or is this unnecessary?