Flipbooks:

I worked with exhibit developers at the Arkansas Museum of Discovery to edit, refine, and write label copy for Quest, a permanent exhibit about the history of science which would be featured in the new Museum of Discovery.  While wall panels worked well to present general concepts, the museum wanted to provide more in-depth information about certain topics such as relativity and atomic structure.  When a concept is too complex to explain in a wall panel, a multimedia presentation or simple flipbook may be used to provide more in-depth discussion for interested visitors.  In this case, I recommended and developed a flipbook to explain the concept of relativity.  After the completion of the label copy project, I went on to develop hands-on educational materials for family visitors.

General Relativity Flip Book  

Cover Copy:

According to Einstein, Everything is Relative…

 
Page 1 Copy

Special Relativity

Around the turn of the 20^th century, Albert Einstein used mathematics to prove that motion affects measurements of time and space.  He called this discovery “Special Relativity.”  Here’s how it works: 

Imagine yourself jumping into a rocket and traveling very fast (nearly the speed of light) to get to a party on Alpha Centauri.  It might take you a few months to get there, and a few months to get back.  You can tell by your rocket clock that you’ve been gone less than a year.

Meanwhile, your twin brother Joe is living his life back on Earth.  When you return, you’re just a year or so older.  But from his point of view, you’ve been gone for over fifty years!  Your twin is now old enough to be your grandfather.

Which of you has gone nuts?  Neither one.  Einstein’s theory shows us that time and space are not as absolute as they seem.

Page Two Copy

General Relativity

Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity showed that motion affects measurements of time and space.  This was a major change in the way scientists thought about the universe.  But Einstein wasn’t finished yet.

In 1915, Einstein published General Relativity.  In it, he stated that gravity and acceleration are exactly equivalent.   For example, an elevator accelerating upwards feels just like gravity pushing you downwards.  A train moving forward feels just like gravity pushing you backwards.

If gravity is equivalent to acceleration (motion), and if motion affects measurements of time and space (as shown in Special Relativity), then gravity must also affect measurements of time and space.

This means that the gravity of any large object, like our sun, actually warps the space and time around it.   And, in fact,  clocks tick more slowly the closer they are to the sun.

 Page Three Copy

Proving the Theories

 How do you prove theories that rely on near-light-speed space travel across the galaxy?  It’s not as tough as you might think.

Astronomers have actually witnessed the bending of starlight by gravity during a solar eclipse.  And they were able to measure a tiny shift in the orbit of the planet Mercury.  These measured observations help to prove that Einstein’s amazing theories are correct. 

Page Four Copy

Relativity and Black Holes 

A black hole, if it exists, is a burned out star that has collapsed in on itself.  Its gravitational pull would be so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.  

 According to Relativity, such an intense gravitational field would warp the time and space around it.  In fact, some scientists believe that sub-atomic particles near a black hole might even travel backwards in time. 

Scientists believe they may have found about a dozen black holes.  The first was Cygnus X-1, about 7000 light years from earth. (A light year, the distance light travels in a year, is about six trillion miles.) Cygnus X-1 was found in 1970.

Page Five Copy

What Does it All Mean?

Einstein’s theories and equations led Russian mathematician and meteorologist Alexander Friedmann to develop the Big Bang theory. 

According to Friedman, the universe began as a tiny bit of incredibly dense, hot matter.  About 10,000,000,000 years ago, the universe began expanding.  Scientists have shown that radioactive rocks on Earth are about the right age to prove Friedman’s theories to be correct. 

According to the Big Bang theory, the universe may keep expanding forever – or it may reach a maximum point of expansion and then start collapsing, growing denser and denser, gradually destroying galaxies, stars, planets, people, and finally even individual atoms. 

Page Five Copy

A New Paradigm for the Future 

Like Newton's, Einstein’s new theories were based entirely on his own ideas. No one but Einstein was thinking of gravity as equivalent to acceleration, and so no one else was working toward the same conclusions.   Some scientists believe that, without Einstein, it could have been fifty years before someone else came up with the theory of General Relativity. 

If Einstein’s theories are correct, they may well lead us to a full understanding of  the origins and fate of the universe.  And, according to our best scientific research, Einstein was right!