Space, Time and Einstein

Page
3

Time and distance are relative

The fastest signal travels at the speed of light

Nothing can travel faster than light

Moving objects appear smaller and slower in space

But the effect is really small for everyday movement

A result of the theory of special relativity: E=mc2

Slide 17

Fermilab

Protons traveling 99.99995% speed of light

Anti-protons traveling 99.99995% speed of light

4 miles

The protons:

Seem 1000 times thinner

Have clocks that run 1000

times slower

Slide 18

What about the other definition of space (all the stuff up in the sky and in the universe?)

Slide 19

Einstein’s General Relativity

We already know that space and time are intertwined

Gravity is a distortion of space and time itself

Moon orbiting the earth

Asteroid pulled into earth

Slide 20

Even light is bent by gravity!

Slide 21

Black holes

Slide 22

Black hole evidence

Slide 23

www.astro.ucla.edu/%7Ewright/doppler.htm

(Object moving away)

Relative motion in the Universe

Red shift

(Object moving away)

Red shift

Slide 24

The Universe is expanding!

A small view from the Hubble Space Telescope. Each blob is a galaxy with 100,000,000,000 stars!

The stars are all moving away from us, and away from one another

The Big Bang: The Universe was really tiny at its birth 13.5 billion years ago

Slide 25

Summary

Space and time are relative

Moving things look shorter and move slower

Space-time is bent by matter

Light is bent by matter

Redshift and blueshift of light is used to detect relative motion in the universe

The present universe is expanding

If you want to learn more about the universe, Einstein or smashing protons and anti-protons together …

Slide 26

Fermilab

Come visit Fermilab!

Lots of fun science demos at the lab’s Lederman Science Center

Walk the prairies

See the lab’s bison

Come for ask-a-scientist