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Einstein once said that to solve the most difficult problems in science, “a state of feeling similar to that of a religious person or a lover” is required. This is coming from a man that single-handedly changed the world through the venue of theoretical physics; his theory of special relativity is especially important because of the implications and technological applications that have been found for it. His love and pursuit of physical problems single-handedly changed the culture of physics; it provided evidence that a new and better way of thinking was required to make advancements in the understanding of the physical reality. Einstein’s love and passion for the subject has not only changed the culture of physics, but of civilization as a whole.

For a very long time, Newtonian physics prevailed in the world of science because it seemed to work in all natural situations and it proved to be almost entirely common sense. It has been used to describe the force that acts upon objects, the acceleration that objects experience as they fall to the floor, and speed at which things travel as a result of the forces that are acting upon it. Classical physics works in most situations throughout daily life, even for the common engineer. It remained the standard in science until scientists began to realize its shortcomings.

In 1887, an experiment that is called the “The Michelson-Morley Experiment” was conducted. It was designed to detect small changes in the speed of light while making use of a light beam and a moving mirror. The developers of this experiment were surely surprised to discover that they could not detect a difference in the speed of light, even as they changed the parameters of the experiment. The experimenters struggled with the results for some time, only to find out that the speed of light is constant regardless of the conditions they imposed on the experiment (Serway, 7). This conclusion defied their understanding of physics, but the science community was forced to consider other options.

While the classical understanding is proven to be useful, it was becoming apparent that classical physics was beginning to reach its limits through experiments such as the Michelson-Morley experiment. It failed to explain some of the phenomena that scientists had discovered throughout the late 19^th century. It failed to explain to true nature of light, describe objects with exceptionally high velocity, and take into account true relativity between different reference frames. As these problems began to become more and more apparent, the need for a new theory arose; Einstein’s theory of special relativity has come to be accepted as the more truthful theory about physical reality because it has shed light on physical phenomena and has more been proven to provide more accurate descriptions.

The theory of special relativity assumes two fundamental logical truths: the speed of light is constant to all observers in a vacuum and that the laws of physics will hold constant to all observers. With these two assumptions made, Einstein went on to make many different predictions about the world that have been proven to be valid. For example, time dilation is principle that Einstein predicted and it states that clocks in relative motion to an observer will appear to be slowed down. The mathematical relationship is shown below:

The  term of this equation is the time interval measured by an observer who is constant motion with respect to the clock and the ’ term is the time interval according an observer who is stationary in relation to the clock . The  term is the relative velocity of the observer, and the c term is symbol for the speed of light. Notice that as the relative speed increases, the time interval difference grows. It predicts that time appears to slow down as velocity increases; this prediction seems to defy logic and certainly defies personal common sense and the natural intuition of most individuals.

This important concept has proven to be useful in everyday life through global positioning systems. Because satellites orbit around the surface of the earth at a very fast pace, they are subject to time dilation. Without the adjustment for time dilation given in the theory of special relativity, GPS systems would not be capable of providing the accurate results that they provide for human civilization (“Real-World Relativity…”).

Imagine a rod of a certain length that is travelling at a speed that is very close to the speed of light. How would you expect the length to change as you measure it while it is in motion and when you measure it at a stationary state? The theory of special relativity predicts that the rod actually contracts in the direction of motion as it move through space; furthermore, the magnitude of contraction depends on the rod’s velocity. This concept is commonly referred to as length contraction. It is yet another example of the proven physical reality that was discovered because of Einstein’s theory that seems to defy logic but catch the attention of the inquisitive mind.

Among other intellectual achievements, Einstein’s special theory of relativity has earned him a place in nearly every facet of American culture. He seems to be mentioned all of the time in popular culture. He has certainly become a personal intellectual hero. His achievements have shed light on the world of science. He represents a culture that is determined to make developments in understanding so that humankind can continue to progress. The manifestation of scientific understanding has come through innovation that has benefitted much of mankind.

Bibliography

1. “Real-World Relativity: The GPS Navigation System”. Accessed 5 December 2014. Website. http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html
2. Serway, R.A. Moses, C.J., Moyer, C. A. Modern Physics. Third Edition. Belmont. David Harris, 2005.

“The Day the Universe Changed-Episode 9 (Making Waves)” was a short video that depicted the progress of science and technology as related, but separate stories. According to the video, the innovations in technology have come about because of the world of science and have received far more public attention than the discoveries that were responsible for new inventions. Furthermore, the video implies that technology has clouded the view of the public from the importance of scientific discoveries because it is so quick to apply the discoveries in order to use them in daily life.

According to Webster’s dictionary, science is the knowledge about and study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observations. Note that the application of discoveries made in the world of science is not mentioned within the definition of it. Technology is the application of scientific discoveries through inventions and innovations. While these fields are related, they are definitely discernable.

Science and technology are often thought of as a single thing in the minds of people who are not trained in these fields. As explained by the video, people have long taken light and electricity for granted. They are not often concerned with how or why these things work, but how they can be harnessed in daily life.

The lack of discernment for science and technology is important today because it has stolen the genuine curiosity about nature. The enthrallment and love of all things new has kept us from asking truly important questions about the way things are and how they work. This love of industry is interesting because its very existence is due to the discoveries that have been made in science, but it quickly destroys the scientific curiosity that has brought us this far.

The worlds of technology and science seem to differ today in major way. It seems that popular culture believes that technology can answer all of the problems that we as a race face today. Edison is premiere example of this because he believed that all things could be improved. In his mind, invention and improvement had no limits. Science, on the other hand, has taken a view point that is in direct opposition to this. In the world of science, nothing can really be known for sure because of the relativity and uncertainty that is inherent to our universe. Additionally, it has stopped trying to answer the question “why” and has settled for the question “how”.

Science, or the study and knowledge of nature, is misunderstood by the general public. This is exemplified by the way in which it is talked about. Einstein’s famous equation (E=mc²) is talked about in all types of scenarios (from children’s shows to comedy skits), but the general population does not have the opportunity to think about the implications that it has on our understanding of reality. If the entire population were able to truly ponder scientific discoveries such as this, the advances in understanding of nature would exponentially grow.

The definition of an integral is given below:

An integral is basically the summation of values for a certain function within a certain range. In fact, integrations use Riemann summations. Riemann sums are used to approximate the total are under a curve.

Energy is often spoken of in continuous terms when relatively large systems are being considered. A good example of energy being treated as continuous is when problems are being solved with the ideal gas law. Consider a system that is constant in pressure, and the temperature increases. The volume must also increase to compensate for this change. Typically, we think of this compensation and the increase in temperature as continuous processes. We rarely think of the increase in temperature as a quantized process in our daily lives.

We think of energies (and measures of energies) in our lives as continuous because it gives us useful and easy to understand approximations. In macroscopic systems, these approximations are typically close enough for the purposes of daily life.

While these approximations are true, they are technically incorrect. Because all systems are made up of atoms, things on the quantum scale, they must all follow the rules that are established in the quantum scale of things. Energy is quantized at all levels; energy in a continuum is just an abstract and useful idea that can be applied to larger systems.

Because the laws of physics apply everywhere in the universe, all energy is quantized. Since all energy is quantized, that means that everything should be quantized because everything is interrelated. Momentum, for example, must be quantized because it can be related to the energy of a system.

Source:

http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/4/definite.1/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_sum

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“Einstein’s Big Idea” helped to remind me that science is a craft that doesn’t take place in a vacuum; in other words, it’s a communal effort to answer questions about nature. While Einstein is perhaps the most famous scientist of all time (perhaps rightly so), it’s important to realize that he did not make the scientific advances alone. He was simply at the culminating point of hundreds of years of scientific inquiry. If it were not for Newton, Planck, and other important scientists before him, perhaps he would have never come to the conclusions that he was able to decide on within his lifetime. Today, scientists are standing on the shoulders of giants from the past.

In addition to the communal effort, I came to understand that great scientists are often simple and extremely curious men and women that are determined to answer the questions that they have about the universe. Einstein’s childlike obsession with the idea of light led to the discovery of the world’s most famous equation: E=mc2. Because of this important equation and the understanding that it brought to the world, many technological and scientific advances have been made. Because of Faraday’s fascination with electromagnetism, we understand so much about the magnetic lines that come from electrical current. The curiosity of some very determined men and women is responsible for many of the things that we have today.

The sort of film is fascinating to me because I want to become a professional scientist. It helps me to continue to chase my own curiosity in hopes of finding answers that could potentially bring a change to the world. Through science, we have the chance to solve many of the problems that we face today as a whole.