Question: I know many physic scientists are researching the superstring theory, but what actually is the superstring theory and why is it so important?

Linda Cremonesi answered on 19 Jun 2014:

Sorry for the late reply duffr023. I had to ask some help to a friend about this and this is how he explains it:

“We can break Superstring Theory down into two easier chunks:

1. String Theory: this is the idea that the building blocks of everything are not ball-like particles! Instead, everything is made out of tiny loops of string! The strings can vibrate, just like a violin string, and the different notes produced correspond to different kinds of particles. In this way we can produce half of all the particles we need in the real world. But how do we get the other half? This needs the ‘Super’ part of Superstring theory.

2. Super: Superstring theory is a shorthand for Supersymmetric String Theory. This is an extension of string theory, where there is an additional symmetry called ‘Supersymmetry’. This symmetry is just like a mirror – for each type of particle, there is a mirror particle, of a different type. Once we include all of these mirror particles as well, we have a theory which can describe everything in the universe! ”

I hope that helps 😀