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Tag Archives: relativity
Black Holes and White Holes and Wormholes, Oh My!
They’re some of the most formidable entities in the universe: their strength is unmatched, they make their own rules, and if you get into a serious tussle with one, you’re almost guaranteed to lose. No, I’m not talking about moms. I’m talking about black holes, of course! Duh… If you’ve ever learned about astronomy, chancesContinue reading “Black Holes and White Holes and Wormholes, Oh My!” Continue reading
Posted in Class, Physics, Universe
Tagged astro2110, Black Holes, blog6, relativity, white holes, wormholes
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Muons and Time Dilation
In my opinion, one of the coolest parts of astronomy is relativity, the theory describing the warping of spacetime. If you’ve ever seen Interstellar, you’ve been exposed to one part of the theory: time dilation. In short, time dilation is a phenomenon that causes time to pass more slowly in one place than another (relativeContinue reading “Muons and Time Dilation” Continue reading
The Speed of Light and Gravity
We all know that light travels fast – 299,792,458 meters per second, to be precise. Still, if the sun were to suddenly disappear into a mysterious void, you and I on Earth would not notice for about 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Or would we? Would we not immediately feel the sudden jolt of ourContinue reading “The Speed of Light and Gravity” Continue reading
What’s in a Black Hole?
There are few things in the entire Universe that are as terrifyingly awesome as a black hole. To have a region of space exist that contains gravitational forces so strong that literally nothing can escape it (whether it’s a particle, light, or any electromagnetic radiation for that matter) seems like a concept straight out of … Continue reading What’s in a Black Hole? → Continue reading
Blog #2: Special Relativity
Albert Einstein was one of the most influential thinkers regarding the fabric of the universe. Einstein’s major contribution to modern physics was his theory of relativity. The first part of this revolutionary idea was his special theory of relativity. Published in 1905, it established two major points: the laws of physics are the same in … Continue reading Blog #2: Special Relativity → Continue reading
Can we travel at the speed of light?
How fast is light? Nothing on earth is known to move faster, and in my opinion, we are actually very fortunate to be able to measure it. Aside the fact that light enables us to see, I am appreciative of it even more because if it were to get any faster by any stretch, astronomers … Continue reading Can we travel at the speed of light? → Continue reading
Posted in Light, Physics, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog1, relativity, Solar System
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Traveling at the Speed of Light
Have you ever imagined what it would be like moving at the speed of light? To have the ability to travel that quickly (think ~300,000,000 m/s) would be incomprehensible — you’d experience a host of different effects, including time dilation (how more rapidly moving objects experience time more slowly), relativistic aberration (how your field of … Continue reading Traveling at the Speed of Light → Continue reading
Posted in Class, Light, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog1, relativity, speedoflight
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Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs
The speed of light is one of the few constants in our universe that we consistently look to when it comes to space. It is an astronomical measurement that we only dream of achieving. Seeing the Millennium Falcon shift into overdrive or the Enterprise slip into hyperdrive are only distant fantasies for us Earth-bound creatures. … Continue reading Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs → Continue reading
Posted in Class, Light, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog1, light-speed, relativity
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Putting the speed of light into perspective
The theory of special relativity tells us that there is an absolute speed limit in the universe, that being the speed of light. At a speed of about 300,000 km/s, light takes only one second to travel to the Moon from Earth and eight minutes to travel to the Sun from Earth. This speed is … Continue reading “Putting the speed of light into perspective” Continue reading
Posted in Light, Physics, Space Travel
Tagged Andromeda, astro2110, blog1, relativity, speedoflight
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Space Bubbles AKA Quantum Foam
Spacetime is often described as a “fabric”, but there is one theory that would describe it as more like sea foam- made of a bunch of tiny bubbles. This is the quantum foam theory. The quantum foam theory basically came into existence to try and unite Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, something that […] Continue reading