This three part post is the first chapter of my book, Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries. Here is part 3. Enjoy!

Are there hidden dimensions or is this science fiction? The scientific answer is: we don’t know. However, as Edward Witten (American theoretical physicist) said, “As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions would not be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms are not: we see many atoms together but we do not see atoms individually.” We know atoms exist, but we cannot see them. Could this be true of hidden dimensions? How do we experimentally prove the hidden dimensions of M-theory? Currently, scientists are using the largest particle colliders to create near speed-of-light collisions between subatomic particles. To understand this approach to prove hidden dimensions, we need to understand what is occurring when a particle with a mass is accelerated near the speed of light, resulting in a relativistic kinetic energy (energy due to its motion). The total mass-energy of the accelerated particle is equal to the mass plus the relativistic kinetic energy. By causing two particles of known mass-energy to collide, they are able to determine if the sum of all the mass-energy before the collision equals the mass-energy after the collision. Two important laws are utilized to make this calculation. Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence (E=mc², where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum), and the conversation of energy law (which states energy cannot be created nor destroyed). By painstakingly accounting for all of the mass-energy before the collision to the mass-energy after the collision, they are able to look for missing mass-energy. If they find such a result, it could imply additional dimensions. That is to say, the mass-energy went into another dimension. These experiments continue as I write. The next few years should be very exciting.

This brings up a crucial question that may have already occurred to you. Could the Big Bang itself be the result of a quantum fluctuation, similar to how virtual particles form? We will scientifically examine that possibility in the next chapter.

Author’s note: I hope you enjoyed chapter 1 of Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries. You can browse the table of contents and addtional portions of the book on Amazon. Just click on this link:  Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries.