What If Gravity Isn’t Quantum? New Experiments Explore

👉 Head to https://brilliant.org/spacetime/ for a 30-day free trial + 20% off your annual subscription

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord!
  / pbsspacetime  

If we discover how to connect quantum mechanics with general relativity we’ll pretty much win physics. There are multiple theories that claim to do this, but it’s notoriously difficult to test them. They seem to require absurd experiments like a particle collider the size of a galaxy. Or we could try to physics smarter, instead of physicsing harder. Let’s talk about some ideas for quantum gravity experiments that can be done on a non-galaxy-sized lab bench, and in some cases already have been done.

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE

Check out the Space Time Merch Store
https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop

Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements!
https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/space...

Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/

Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Christopher Pollack, Lorenzo Braccini, & Matt O'Dowd
Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria
Directed by Andrew Kornhaber
Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour
Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.
This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2024 PBS. All rights reserved.

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg:    / multidroideka  

Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By:

Big Bang
​​Wojciech Szymski
First Principles Foundation
Bryce Fort
Peter Barrett
Alexander Tamas
Morgan Hough
Juan Benet
Vinnie Falco
Mark Rosenthal

Supernova
Grace Biaelcki
Glenn Sugden
Ethan Cohen
Stephen Wilcox
The Tyacke boys
Amy Hickman
Mark Heising

Hypernova
Richard Pavlicek
Dean Galvin
Michael Tidwell
Robert DeChellis
Stephen Spidle
Chris Webb
Justin Lloyd
David Giltinan
Kenneth See
Gregory Forfa
Alex Kern
drollere
Scott Gorlick
Paul Stehr-Green
Ben Delo
Scott Gray
Антон Кочков
Robert Ilardi
John R. Slavik
Mathew
Donal Botkin
Edmund Fokschaner
chuck zegar
Daniel Muzquiz

Gamma Ray Burst
John De Witt
Kevin Vallejo
Nathaniel Bennett
Sandhya Devi
Michael Oulvey
Robin Sur
Arko Provo Mukherjee
Mike Purvis
Christopher Wade
Anthony Crossland
Grace Seraph
Stephen Saslow
Tomaz Lovsin
Anthony Leon
Lori Ferris
Koen Wilde
Nicolas Katsantonis
Richard Steenbergen
Joe Pavlovic
Chuck Lukaszewski
Cole B Combs
Andrea Galvagni
Jerry Thomas
Nikhil Sharma
John Anderson
Bradley Ulis
Craig Falls
Kane Holbrook
Ross Story
Harsh Khandhadia
Matt Quinn
Michael Lev
Rad Antonov
Terje Vold
James Trimmier
Jeremy Soller
Paul Wood
Kent Durham
jim bartosh
John H. Austin, Jr.
Faraz Khan
Almog Cohen
Daniel Jennings
Jeremy Reed
David Johnston
Michael Barton
Isaac Suttell
Bleys Goodson
Mark Delagasse
Mark Daniel Cohen
Shane Calimlim
Tybie Fitzhugh
Eric Kiebler
Craig Stonaha
Frederic Simon
Tonyface
Jim Hudson
Alex Gan
John Funai
Adrien Molyneux
Bradley Jenkins
Vlad Shipulin
Justin Waters
Thomas Dougherty
Dan Warren
Joseph Salomone
Julien Dubois