Confused?

 So Are The Physicists!

  
Einstein's theory of general relativity, (how everything bigger than an atom works), and the theory of quantum mechanics, (how everything smaller than an atom works), are two widely accepted and verified theories of physics. However, there's only one problem. They contradict each other!  

The theory of general relativity deals with physics on the macro scale of massive gravitational fields warping the space-time continuum. Quantum mechanics deals with the physics of sub-atomic particles and the interactions of matter and energy on extremely small scales.

The crux of the problem is that general relativity describes a smooth continuum of space-time, but quantum physics describes distortions of space-time. Thus, these two well tested theories mutually exclude one another.

 

To resolve this contradiction a new and as yet experimentally untested unifying theory called "String Theory" has been advanced. String theory attempts to unify the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics by suggesting that the fundamental constituents of reality are small strings, vibrating at different frequencies and like vibrating violin strings producing notes, these vibrating stings produce particles such as electrons and photons, which do not exist at any one given fixed point and that split and absorb one another forming different particles. Which is similar to the idea, in Taoist thought of  Qi (or Chi) energy. 

At its inception string theory was the hottest thing in physics. Arising from the notion that matter and energy are fundamentally composed of tiny, vibrating strings rather than point like particles, this theory attempted to unify all the known forces into a single, elegant package. Some physicists hailed string theory as the long-sought "theory of everything",(unified field theory). 

But, this ambitious idea  has suffered a remarkable setback. Many physicists now see string theory as a theoretical cul-de-sac that may not lead anywhere. Recent calculations have produced a surprising prediction from string theory: that there may be an almost infinite number of different universes, some of which would be like our own, and others that would be very different. A theory that proposes parallel universes and 10-dimensional space has proved too much to produve a simple explanation, no matter how aesthetically pleasing that idea may be. String theory still has to satisfy the requirement that it is convergent with the older, proven theories in the areas in which the old theories were tested.