commonsense notions of space and time, cause and effect. Both have
reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind relativity and
quantum physics are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone.
Profound ... Beautiful ... Relevant
Why should you care about these landmark theories? Because relativity and quantum physics are not only profound and beautiful ideas in their own right, they are also the gateway to understanding many of the latest science stories in the media. These are the stories about time travel, string theory, black holes, space telescopes, particle accelerators, and other cutting-edge developments.
Consider these ideas:
Why should you care about these landmark theories? Because relativity and quantum physics are not only profound and beautiful ideas in their own right, they are also the gateway to understanding many of the latest science stories in the media. These are the stories about time travel, string theory, black holes, space telescopes, particle accelerators, and other cutting-edge developments.
Consider these ideas:
- Although Einstein's theory of general relativity dates from 1914, it has not been possible to test certain predictions until recently. The Hubble Space Telescope is providing some of the most striking confirmations of the theory, including certain evidence for the existence of black holes, objects that warp space and time so that not even light can escape. Also, the expansion of the universe predicted by the theory of general relativity is now a known rate.
- General relativity also predicts an even weirder phenomenon called "wormholes" that offer shortcuts to remote reaches of time and space.
- According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, two twins would age at different rates if one left on a high-speed journey to a distant star and then returned. This experiment has actually been done, not with twins, but with an atomic clock flown around the world. Another fascinating experiment confirming that time slows as speed increases comes from measuring muons at the top and bottom of mountains.
- A seemingly absurd consequence of quantum mechanics, called "quantum tunneling," makes it possible for objects to materialize through impenetrable barriers. Quantum tunneling happens all the time on the subatomic scale and plays an important role in electronic devices and the nuclear processes that keep the sun shining.
- Some predictions about the expansion of the universe were so odd that Einstein himself tried to rewrite the mathematics in order to eliminate them. When Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, Einstein called the revisions the biggest mistake he had ever made.
Michio Kaku full documentary THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION 2013
Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku shows how quantum physics
is giving mankind the almost godlike power to manipulate the
fundamental building blocks of matter. Science fiction ideas like the
space elevator, teleportation, invisibility cloaks, or nanosized
molecular machines might soon become a reality. But will we use our
unprecedented scientific mastery wisely?
No comments:
Post a Comment