Newtonic child
Newtonic Child
My child often goes off in quaint flights of fancy. I am a bachelor, unmarried. So if you wonder wherefrom I got this child, he is that inner child of whom many wise men write in the papers , asking you to pamper him. Now that your doubts are settled, I can merrily proceed with the tale of my child( Inner, that is.and how I nourish and cherish him !)
My child always preferred Newton to Einstein, mainly because Einstein is so difficult to understand and relativistic maths is way beyond his capacity. Newton. Well, every high school student knows that objects accelerate in a gravitational field. If you feel gravitational field is still high-sounding, think like this – all objects fall from the sky and rush to meet the earth. In this process they gain a speed of 32 feet per second, every second. The speed goes on increasing.
This is where Einstein comes in, in my child's fantasy. No, Einstein does not fall into Newton at 32feet per second, per second. But Newton is able to rush at Einstein at speeds greater than that of light. Light, as all of you know travels at a speed of 1,86, 273 miles per second. Now one of the fundamental concepts of Einstein's theory is that no object in our universe can travel faster than light.
So this is how my child settles score with Einstein. Consider a big object like a star. Call that object Einstein. The second object is called Newton. Newton is say about 100000 miles away from E. For objects of such size (mass), a million miles is just like their backyard. Under the influence of E's gravitational field N begins to move towards E. In the beginning N's speed is low.(Though shuffling at 32000
to 320000 feet per second is not something to be sneezed at.) As Newton goes nearer and nearer towards Einstein his speed increases every second. At this rate there comes a time when Newton's sped is about to exceed the speed of light. (1,86,273 miles per second, remember?) Soon he is going to crash into Einstein. The required maths can be arranged. Yes, arranged ,is what the boy said. When two big bodies collide there will be a very big bang. When two geniuses collide?...Einstein is worried but N is gleeful because he is about to outrace light.(Child does not want to use 'it' for such venerable names like Newton and Einstein.)
At this juncture child is in a quandary; in a tizzy. E, like a magician declares that an object nearing the speed of light , gains mass. So the mass of N increases alarmingly. So what, says N, all the more welcome. Very soon my mass will become so enormous that the word will not have an impact on me. I will be so massive I will simply swallow E ! E is desperate. Desperately he conjures up another phenomenon.. When an object approaches the speed of light, time for that object shrinks, contracts.
If a pair of astronauts leave our earth and travel at the speed of light(well, almost)in outer space for one year, as per their reckoning and return to earth, it would be 100, 200, 300 years as per our reckoning. So E contents himself imagining that he has still 300 more years to exist.
But what about a third party? Us, earthlings watching N approach E? Child does not like to answer that, you see. However he likes to answer his previous question, "When two genii collide…"
It will be a crash (l) of the millennium, he quips and sagaciously makes an exit, shouting back at us. "The point is that Newton was able to move faster than light after all."
My child often goes off in quaint flights of fancy. I am a bachelor, unmarried. So if you wonder wherefrom I got this child, he is that inner child of whom many wise men write in the papers , asking you to pamper him. Now that your doubts are settled, I can merrily proceed with the tale of my child( Inner, that is.and how I nourish and cherish him !)
My child always preferred Newton to Einstein, mainly because Einstein is so difficult to understand and relativistic maths is way beyond his capacity. Newton. Well, every high school student knows that objects accelerate in a gravitational field. If you feel gravitational field is still high-sounding, think like this – all objects fall from the sky and rush to meet the earth. In this process they gain a speed of 32 feet per second, every second. The speed goes on increasing.
This is where Einstein comes in, in my child's fantasy. No, Einstein does not fall into Newton at 32feet per second, per second. But Newton is able to rush at Einstein at speeds greater than that of light. Light, as all of you know travels at a speed of 1,86, 273 miles per second. Now one of the fundamental concepts of Einstein's theory is that no object in our universe can travel faster than light.
So this is how my child settles score with Einstein. Consider a big object like a star. Call that object Einstein. The second object is called Newton. Newton is say about 100000 miles away from E. For objects of such size (mass), a million miles is just like their backyard. Under the influence of E's gravitational field N begins to move towards E. In the beginning N's speed is low.(Though shuffling at 32000
At this juncture child is in a quandary; in a tizzy. E, like a magician declares that an object nearing the speed of light , gains mass. So the mass of N increases alarmingly. So what, says N, all the more welcome. Very soon my mass will become so enormous that the word will not have an impact on me. I will be so massive I will simply swallow E ! E is desperate. Desperately he conjures up another phenomenon.. When an object approaches the speed of light, time for that object shrinks, contracts.
If a pair of astronauts leave our earth and travel at the speed of light(well, almost)in outer space for one year, as per their reckoning and return to earth, it would be 100, 200, 300 years as per our reckoning. So E contents himself imagining that he has still 300 more years to exist.
But what about a third party? Us, earthlings watching N approach E? Child does not like to answer that, you see. However he likes to answer his previous question, "When two genii collide…"
It will be a crash (l) of the millennium, he quips and sagaciously makes an exit, shouting back at us. "The point is that Newton was able to move faster than light after all."
Tags & Keywords : Newton, Einstein, child, gravitatio, relativity, physics, light, speed, star, astraonaut