-
-
----------------------- 2234 - What did Albert Einstein say about the Universe?
-
- It is the 114 year anniversary of Albert’s famous equation, E=mc^2. It was 114 years ago that a 26 year old boy had a great year in 1905. He thought up four theories that shocked the scientific community at the time and has been proven right with every experiment for the past 114 years.
-
- Albert Einstein was working as a clerk in a patent office because he could not get a job as a college professor teaching math and science. He tried. His mother called in some favors and at least he had a job as a clerk. Clerk used to mean cleric, which meant anyone who could read and write.
-
- In March of that year he published his first paper that changed everyone’s ideas about light. At the time, science knew that light traveled fast and it traveled in waves, like water waves across a pond.
-
- The boy, Albert, was studying experimental data on the photoelectric effect when you shine a light on certain metals and it causes an electric current to flow. The data showed that dim blue light generated an electric current when it hit the metal.
-
- But, when they changed to a red light the current stopped. Even if you made the red light bright the current was not there. Why was the metal sensitive to the color and not to the intensity?
-
- Albert said that the simple explanation was that light was not a wave but traveled in small energy packets , later called photons. When these photons had the right energy level determined by its color, or frequency, or wavelength, which are all different names for the same thing, they dislodged electrons in the metal causing the current.
-
- Red light photons were not the right energy level to match the electron’s energy level needed to absorb, or dislodge electrons in the metal. (Atoms were not understood at that time). Blue light was just the right energy level. Making the red light brighter did not help because you were simply sending more photons with the wrong energy levels. So, the whole idea of light photons was developed for the first time.
-
- Thinking more about atoms, Albert looked at the data on pollen grains bouncing around in water. What made them move? This phenomenon was first discovered in 1827 by a biologist Robert Brown peering through his microscope. It became known as the Brownian motion and no scientist had been able to explain it.
-
- Albert said it simply proved the existence of atoms. Up until that time atoms were understood as a theory but no one had proven that they actually existed. Albert’s paper calculated the size of the atoms in water and showed that the vibrating atoms bouncing against the grains of pollen would cause the motion observed. He used statistics to mathematically show the random path the vibrating atoms would cause the motion in the pollen grains just as Brown had described it.
-
- In June, Albert took on the theory of time that Isaac Newton espoused, the scientific genius of all time. Isaac’s theory was that time was a constant throughout the universe. Albert, said, no, not true, time actually depends on your relative motion. If you are traveling faster than someone else your time is running slower. Time and space are relative, not absolute. An amazing deduction!
-
- Albert was thinking about the problem of synchronizing watches. If you and I synchronize our watches we both set them for 12:00 on the dot. But, if you are in New York and I’m in London how do we get our watches synchronized?
-
- We could send a telegraph signal over the transatlantic cable. At exactly 12:00 in London I hit the telegraph key and when you hear the click in New York you set your watch to 12:00. But, this does not quite work. The New York time is slower because it took time for the signal to travel from London to New York. Space separation has caused the New York time to be slower.
-
- Albert concluded that time is relative not absolute. And, space too was relative, not absolute. It is the speed of the electromagnetic signal traveling between London and New York that is constant and absolute. The speed of light is constant in the vacuum of space.
-
- We say the speed of light is constant, 186,000 miles per second. What we really mean is the speed of all electromagnetic radiation, nuclear forces, and gravity is constant. They all travel at light speed.
-
- We say in a vacuum because even light travels slower in a different medium than a vacuum. The electric signal in a copper wire is slower than light speed. Light through a glass fiber is slower than light through a vacuum tube. But, in any medium chosen, the speed of electromagnetic radiation is constant in that medium.
-
- The fastest speed possible is the speed of radiation in a vacuum, 186,000 miles per second. The speed of light is constant in those other mediums too except photons are constantly being absorbed and reemitted making their net speed appear slower.
-
- Not only is time relative, so is space and mass. The faster you travel relative to someone else the shorter you get and the more massive you get. These changes are very small at the velocities we normally experience, but they become very significant as velocities approach the speed of light.
-
- These conclusions are necessary in order to keep the light speed constant in the equations of physics. Albert concluded that the laws of physics are the same for all observers. If you are traveling in a jet plane at 600mph and you fired a rifle bullet straight ahead with a muzzle velocity of 600 mph that the bullet is traveling 1200 mph. Not exactly, but at bullet speeds the error is unnoticeable.
-
- If you were on a rocket ship traveling 80% the speed of light and shinned a flashlight straight ahead, would the light beam be traveling 180% light speed? No, the laws of physics must remain the same, the light beam must remain constant. Therefore, time and space must change relatively in order to keep the equations in physics still valid with light speed constant.
-
- As the speed of satellites circling the planet the Global Positioning System relative to us on the ground requires Albert’s equations for time dilation in order to use time to calculate the proper distances. Without his correction the distance calculations would be much more inaccurate than GPS provides. (See Review about GPS to learn more.)
In September Albert published is 4th paper on the special theory of relativity. The mathematical footnote had the famous E = mc^2. He used “L” for energy instead of “E”, and he used “I” for the speed of light instead of “c”.
-
- “c” = 186,000 miles per second. “c^2” = 34,700,000,000 miles^2/second^2. With this large multiplier a small amount of mass converts to an enormous amount of energy.
-
- One pound of banana peels would convert to enough energy to provide all the electric power in the United States for a day, 11 billion kilowatt hours. It could power your car for 180,000 trips around the world.
-
- The reverse is equally fascinating. It would take the same amount of energy to make the matter, the atoms that make up a pound of banana peels. Where did all that energy come from the created the Universe? The answer the Big Bang. Where did the Big Bang come from? We need another Albert to graduate from college and tell us.
-
- Stay in school , you have a lot more to learn.
-
- (More reviews on this subject are available if requested)
-
- January 11, 2019 557
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
- to: ------- jamesdetrick@comcast.net ------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ -- www.facebook.com -- www.twitter.com
-------------------------- Friday, January 11, 2019 --------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment