Did You Know? #9

What is the Theory of Everything?

Fred's Note: Yeah, yeah... we've gone a bit overboard on science with these last couple of questions. We lighten things up considerably next time around. Until then, just think how much smarter people will think you are when you bring this up at that next cocktail party.

A theory of everything or final theory is a theory of theoretical physics that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena, and predicts the outcome of any experiment that could be carried out in principle. A Theory of Everything would unify all the fundamental interactions of nature: gravitation, strong interaction, weak interaction, and electromagnetism. At present, no convincing candidate for a Theory of Everything is available. Most particle physicists state that the outcome of the ongoing experiments – the search for new particles at the large particle accelerators and for dark matter – are needed in order to provide theoretical physicists with further input for a Theory of Everything.