Question

What is the name of the hypothetical theory that would unify all the fundamental forces of nature?

A) Grand unified theory

B) Unified field theory

C) Classical field theory

D) Super grand unified theory

Answer 1

Hint: We have four fundamental forces in nature. They are: the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force. The given question is asked to find a hypothetical theory which combines these fundamental forces. Hypothetical theories are those theories which are theoretically possible but there is no practical evidence to prove them.

Complete answer:

At first Maxwell successfully unified electricity and magnetism into electromagnetism in the 1800s.That paved the way for the unifying of the fundamental forces of nature although many great physicists worked on unifying all the fundamental forces of nature it is still hypothetical and exists only in concepts.

Let’s look at the given options.

A) Grand unified theory: Within the same theoretical structure, grand unified theory describes interactions between quarks and leptons. This opens the prospect of quarks decaying into leptons, and specifically the proton decaying.

B) The Unified field theory is a hypothetical theory that attempts to unify all the fundamental forces of nature, that are gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction between elementary particles into a single theoretical framework. It was based on classical field theory.

C) The Classical field theory predicts the interaction between physical fields with matter. The classical field theory explains the theories that deal with an electromagnetic field and gravitational field into a single physical field.

D) The Super grand theory is a hypothetical theory attempting to combine the electromagnetic, the strong interaction and the weak interaction in one set of equations which does not include gravitation.

Hence, after checking all the options we can say that option (B) is correct. The Unified field theory is the hypothetical theory that would unify all the fundamental forces of nature.

Note:
To answer this question we need a deep knowledge in the history and development of quantum theories. All the hypothetical theories given in the options are similar and their difference is small. All these hypothetical theories deal with the unifying of forces. It is important to note that these theories are not theories but only predictions (hypothetical theories).