Gravity Waves Discovered

One of the most significant discoveries may have taken place in the field of physics.

In 1915 Albert Einstein theorized that massive objects could cause ripples in local space/time.  These "ripples" are better known as gravity Waves.

One of the devices that has the best chance of discovering gravitational waves is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory which was upgraded in 2015.

Gravity waves are the product of two massive objects colliding or the rapid collapse of a massive star. The more massive the collapse or collision, the greater and more numerous the ripples.

For more information click the Gizmodo.com link        

Wikipedia link to gravity waves

Driving Fast....fountain of youth?

Dan just turned me on to an article that is a real fun way to look at Einstein's predictions on relativity. The funny thing is in this discussion is I often made these same observations, when I was much younger, on time dilation, mainly from observing common occurrences while riding in a car. Relativity of course says that two object traveling at different speeds relative to each other will experience time differently. Today it is widely accepted that an object traveling at a substantial fraction of the speed of light will experience time much more slowly, relative to someone or something that is stationary (relatively speaking)

Even though a speeding car will not slow time down by much, the observational example can, however, still be very striking. This is how I would explain it. You're sitting in a car and a friend is standing outside the car and neither is moving. Time is experienced by the both of you the same. Now your friend starts walking and walks for an hour (at a normal pace he should now be about 2.5 miles ahead) Now for both, 1 hour has passed and you both have experienced it but at slightly different frames of reference. Now you accelerate your car to 60mph. You will cover the same distance in 2 minutes 30 seconds. You now continue to drive for an hour. Your friend has managed to now cover 5 miles and you 60. Speed relative to each other was vastly different, but this is where I would loose people. When you catch up to your friend at the end of that first hour you both start listening to a song that is four minutes long. At the end of the song your friend has covered roughly 900 feet. In your car, after the same 4 minutes you have covered 21120 feet or 4 four miles. Relative to your friend (or at least observationally) time would appear to be going 23 times slower (of course it isnt really, but relativity uses basically the same thought experiments ) If you put speakers outside your car, your friend would hear the sound being stretched to a lower / slower frequency which is much the same as what happens to light at the vast speeds needed to make relativity's time dilation work.

The story Dan brought me from the Los Angeles Time was the fact that even small changes have a dilation effect. Clocks at sea level run slower than counterparts on top of mountains which proves out Einstein's theory that gravity fields affect time and it has been documented since the Apollo age that clocks on high speed rockets run slower than fixed clocks.

Of course astrophysicists have long seen the effects of gravity on light and time. They have been using the gravity of suns or whole galaxies to slow time and therefor bend light allowing them to see further into the universe.

Is there really any uses past thought experiments that these effects can be useful towards? Mostly likely not in the near future. However as data streams become vastly more dense and complex, timing will become even more crucial in the future. Knowing that time runs faster off planet and slower in high speed craft could be very important to maintaining accurate timing of data streams etc.

wikipedia article on time dilation

Wikipedia article on Special Relativity

Space-time Distorts Near Neutron Stars As Einstein Predicted

Using European and Japanese/NASA X-ray satellites, astronomers have seen Einstein’s predicted distortion of space-time around three neutron stars, and in doing so they have pioneered a groundbreaking technique for determining the properties of these ultra-dense objects. Neutron stars contain the most dense observable matter in the universe. They cram more than a sun’s worth of material into a city-sized sphere, meaning a few cups of neutron-star stuff would outweigh Mount Everest. Astronomers use these collapsed stars as natural laboratories to study how tightly matter can be crammed under the most extreme pressures that nature can offer. Astronomers studied a spectral line from hot iron atoms that are whirling around in a disk just beyond the neutron star’s surface at 40 percent the speed of light. They found that the iron line is broadened asymmetrically by the gas’s extreme velocity, which smears and distorts the line because of the Doppler effect and beaming effects predicted by Einstein’s special theory of relativity. The warping of space-time by the neutron star’s powerful gravity, an effect of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, shifts the neutron star’s iron line to longer wavelengths.

An artist depicts a disk of hot gas whipping around a neutron star. The gas in the inner part of the disk whirls around the neutron star at about 40 percent the speed of light, so fast that it experiences effects predicted by Einstein's theories of relativity. Superheated iron atoms in this region emit X-rays at a characteristic wavelength, but the spectral feature is highly distorted by the relativistic effects. (Credit: NASA/Dana Berry)

LSU professor resolves Einstein's twin paradox

Subhash Kak, Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at LSU, recently resolved the twin paradox, known as one of the most enduring puzzles of modern-day physics.

First suggested by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago, the paradox deals with the effects of time in the context of travel at near the speed of light. Einstein originally used the example of two clocks – one motionless, one in transit. He stated that, due to the laws of physics, clocks being transported near the speed of light would move more slowly than clocks that remained stationary.

In more recent times, the paradox has been described using the analogy of twins. If one twin is placed on a space shuttle and travels near the speed of light while the remaining twin remains earthbound, the unmoved twin would have aged dramatically compared to his interstellar sibling, according to the paradox.

If the twin aboard the spaceship went to the nearest star, which is 4.45 light years away at 86 percent of the speed of light, when he returned, he would have aged 5 years. But the earthbound twin would have aged more than 10 years!” said Kak.

Kak solved the paradox by incorporating a new principle within the relativity framework that defines motion not in relation to individual objects, such as the two twins with respect to each other, but in relation to distant stars. Using probabilistic relationships, Kak’s solution assumes that the universe has the same general properties no matter where one might be within it.