Out of This World: Colliding Universes, Branes, Strings, and Other Wild Ideas of Modern Physics Book

Although it is now almost unanimously accepted that the cosmos started with the Big Bang, we still have no plausible theory for the forces that set this creative cataclysm into motion. Some of the most profound questions science arise out of the difficulties scientists have explaining how our Universe was born. What happened, and indeed what was, before the Big Bang? During the past few years cosmologists and physicists have begun to develop new ideas, sometimes fantastic, that are beginning to shed light on such questions. In OUT OF THIS WORLD, Stephen Webb examines these amazing recent theories. After introducing general relativity and quantum mechanics-the twin foundations of twentieth century physics-he explains how they are fundamentally incompatible. Then, in a series of increasingly astonishing chapters, he introduces us to the seemingly outlandish and bizarre proposals-from almost unbelievably small particles to huge membranes that may envelope our Universe-that physicists have devised to account for this incompatibility, ultimately leading to us to wholly new realms of understanding. Webb makes these strange and wonderful goings-on accessible, engaging, and enjoyable, conveying not just what theorists have begun to believe about the cosmos, but the awe and excitement felt by scientists as this new picture of the Universe slowly emerges.