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- From: Curriki Leaders
- Contributed By: Chrissie Reiswig
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Black holes, time travel, and a universe which expands faster than the speed of light... it seems like science fiction, but astronomers study these things on a daily basis! In this course, we’ll learn about Einstein’s theory of relativity and discuss what it has to say about the most mind-boggling topics in the universe. What would it be like to fall into a black hole? How can you travel into the future, using nothing more than your feet? We’ll also take a look at the evidence astronomers have been building up the past few years which seems to confirm some of Einstein’s most outlandish ideas. Since we can’t do too many hands-on experiments related to relativity, we’ll structure the course around "thought-experiments" – a technique pioneered by Einstein in which a little logic can go a long way toward understanding how the universe works. This course can be taken by anyone at the high school level, but it would be ideal for students who have a little bit of physics background, since it will reinforce what they have already learned. I taught a mini-course similar to the one presented here in Richard Armstrong’s 11th grade English class at Ithaca High School in Ithaca, New York during March-May 2004. The class was taught over 10 sessions, each slightly longer than one hour. Most of the students in this class had no prior physics background and very little mathematics background, but by the end, most of them considered the course to be a success and came away from it with a basic understanding and appreciation of the theory of relativity. This resource is a Microsoft Word document hosted by the Graduate Student School Outreach Project (GSSOP) at Cornell University.
Navigate to This External Web Link:
http://www.psc.cornell.edu/gssop/Documentation2004/Einstein_for_Everyone.doc
