1Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Spacetime and Einstein

1905: Clerk in Patent Office

Grand Old Man!

Schoolboy

2Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Einstein's Three Great Discoveries1. He verified the existence of “atoms” by

explaining the zig-zag motion of pollen grains in water, noticed 80 years earlier.

1. He proved that light could be understood as little “bullets” of energy (or particles).

2. He developed the theory of relativity, in which “moving” observers disagree about simple measurements like time and distance.

Discovery #3 showed that space and time are mixed up . . . something that even today seems pretty weird.

3Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Question: If we disagree about measurements, what can we agree on?

Answer: The speed of light is the same for everyone!

Some “unintended” consequences:

From your point of view moving things seem:

But the speeds have to be very big to make much difference.

You can go faster and faster but never ever reach the speed of light!

Space and time get mixed up . . . Spacetime!

Shorter

Slower

Heavier

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4 MILES

Fermilab’s Accelerator pushes protons to:0.9999995 x (speed of light)

(This is about 186,000 miles per second!)

Every second, they go around the 4-mile ring about 50,000 times!

The protons:• Seem 1000 times heavier.• Seem 1000 times thinner.• Have clocks that run 1000 times slower.

5Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Space & time are bent, or curved, by matter.

This is gravity. Planets, moons and baseballs go

“as straight as they can.”

www.unmuseum.org

6Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

May 29, 1919 The eclipse that changed the universe . . .

And proved Einstein right!Space is bent by Sun’s gravity!

www.unmuseum.org

..

.

7Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Space is bent by matter.

Multiple images (like ripples on a pond)

Same GalaxySee it twice!

8Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

hydrogen

neon

Spectral lines -Cosmic Barcodes

9Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

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

Blue shift

Red shift

eeeeyaooww!!

(Object moving away)

(Object moving toward)

10Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

A tiny spot from the Hubble Space TelescopeEvery blob is a galaxy with ~100,000,000,000 stars.

BIG BANG13.5 billion years ago

But not BIG, TINY!

All are rushing away from us,

RED SHIFT . . . expanding Universe!

Dr. Hubble (Wheaton) discovered that.

11Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Extrasolar Planets

Graphic of the Neptune-Mass companion to GJ 436

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lane

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rg/n

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ne_w

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ics.

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SPEEDTO/FROM

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TIME

Artist’s impression

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The Cosmological Constant

Einstein’s greatest blunder . . .

or perhaps his greatest legacy?

a case for the accelerating Universe

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Black Holes

From Astronomy Picture of the Daywww.phy.mtu.edu/apod/ap971107.html The Black Hole is invisible,

but you can see stuff around it.

14Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Hubble Uncovers Dust Disk Around a Massive Black Hole

15Space, Time and Dr. Einstein

Black hole candidate in the spiral galaxy

16Space, Time and Dr. Einstein