What Do You Really Know? (1076 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.52 on 62 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Bubba2341 (View user info) at 2008-12-13 16:55:44 EST
I recently had the distinct pleasure of renewed contact with a gentleman with whom I attended high school. Yeah, he's old, like me. The circumstances under which we re-met are not important; suffice it to say that he appeared to be well dressed and rather self-assured. After a little small talk about the old days I asked what he was doing now.
"So, Bill, what do you do for a living now?"
"Bob, I am a full professor of Chemistry and Physics at a university on the East Coast."
"Wow! Which one?
"Well, the place name is not important, but suffice to say it used to be connected with Einstein."
Not being the total fool, I figured out that he was referring to Princeton. As I recently finished reading a biography of Herr Einstein, this piqued my curiosity. I began to ask him about the level at which he taught.
"Er..Bob, as I recall, math was never your best subject."
"No shit, Bill, but if you describe things with words instead on numbers I just might have a clue."
At that point the conversation turned one-sided, he expounding and I being totally confused. He attempted to relate to me Einstein's theories in layman's terms, and I wished mightily for a dozen beers.
The question: Do any of you out there really understand what Einstein was actually saying? Can you put his theories in terms any idiot can understand? I would be eternally grateful if you can do so. . . .
User Reviews
Submitted by PlatinumScarecrow (user info) at 2009-08-05 17:26:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-16 13:44:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by BruceCampbell (user info) at 2008-12-16 08:21:57 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
E = Energy released when an atom is split
M = Mass of the atom
C2 = speed of light multiplied speed of light
SO, where is the not understanding part in there? So math is not the problem.
Relativity theory explains why we can see behind a star (gravity bends space-time and the beam of light is the curved)and, why time does not flow at the same speed for a watch on the equator and the poles and a few other phenomenons not explained in Newton's world. Its because of the way we perceive and measure time. We use the movement of a clock and that movement is perceived by our eyes because light bounces off objects and a fixed absolute speed in all directions. This also affects our notion simultaneity. We can never take a snapshot of a moment... People in the background of the photo are a fraction of a second in the past RELATIVE to the people in the foreground. Movement, space, time, speed of light, all of these concepts are linked and Einstein came up with the notion of space-time continuum to illustrate that link.
Ok you are lost... it's hopeless
=================
Heh. You have no clue why I posted this, do you? I'll wager I know as much about Relativity as you or anyone else here.
This is a game, kid. Pay attention.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-12-16 09:32:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:05:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you went off on me and joined their ranks of haters.
just like robbie you will get +2's and uber love from all the suckwads now.
I'm evryones ticket to universal acceptance it seems.
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Way to miss (and ruin) the joke yet again. Do you really think I +2 Bubba because he yelled at you? Get the fuck over yourself.
Bubba, it's ok, the scary lady can't hurt you! She's not real! You can come out of your couch fort now!
Submitted by BruceCampbell (user info) at 2008-12-16 08:21:57 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
E = Energy released when an atom is split
M = Mass of the atom
C2 = speed of light multiplied speed of light
SO, where is the not understanding part in there? So math is not the problem.
Relativity theory explains why we can see behind a star (gravity bends space-time and the beam of light is the curved)and, why time does not flow at the same speed for a watch on the equator and the poles and a few other phenomenons not explained in Newton's world. Its because of the way we perceive and measure time. We use the movement of a clock and that movement is perceived by our eyes because light bounces off objects and a fixed absolute speed in all directions. This also affects our notion simultaneity. We can never take a snapshot of a moment... People in the background of the photo are a fraction of a second in the past RELATIVE to the people in the foreground. Movement, space, time, speed of light, all of these concepts are linked and Einstein came up with the notion of space-time continuum to illustrate that link.
Ok you are lost... it's hopeless
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:54:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:05:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you went off on me and joined their ranks of haters.
just like robbie you will get +2's and uber love from all the suckwads now.
I'm evryones ticket to universal acceptance it seems.
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I will let you talk to me if you want but no more than a few sentences at a time... and only once a week.
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:38:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-12-15 14:12:52 CST (#)
Ranking: 0
Bubba, do you like french fried taters
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH NO HE DINN'T!
Must resist......must resist......ARGH CAN'T RESIST!
I like mustard on mah biscuits, um hmmm.
Yew ought not a killed dat boy.
Not funny ha ha. Funny queer.
I kin use sum more o dat potted meat if you have any extree.
I like the way you talk.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:19:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
lol
persecuted below
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2008-12-15 18:05:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you went off on me and joined their ranks of haters.
just like robbie you will get +2's and uber love from all the suckwads now.
I'm evryones ticket to universal acceptance it seems.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-15 17:52:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
+2s from the suckwads? I SMELL A RAT HERE!!!
SHLONGY, GIMME SOME HELP, DUDE. I NEED YOU!!!!!!!!!!
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-12-15 15:13:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-12-15 15:12:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Bubba, do you like french fried taters
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-12-15 14:56:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm sorry bubba.
you are a human being and i shouldn't say such horrid things to you.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-15 14:40:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
But I STILL love you, Scourge. Does this mean the shackles will not be taken off after dinner next Tuesday?
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-12-15 13:21:06 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
sometimes people like to point to natural disasters which claim thousands of lives as proof of the nonexistence of god. mass murderers. cancer. aids. kids passing away before their parents.
all the senseless things that season life with a touch of bitterness.
and the religious think this is a weak argument. heck, i mostly agree. i mean, for the christian viewpoint, the concept of god granting humans free will can explain away most of this.
but then...then i think of bubba.
wow.
no loving god would allow a creature so disgusting, so utterly without worth, so fully bereft of any redeeming quality, to exist alongside those he claimed to love.
:(
Submitted by Wildman (user info) at 2008-12-14 18:07:53 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
pedo
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-12-14 17:24:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i puke in my mouth at the very thought of your sub human existence
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-14 14:48:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Elementary. Green eggs is a euphemism for Gyros and Ham stands for cheap jewelry.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-12-14 14:25:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Baby steps, Bubba, baby steps! No need to run before you can walk!
Here you go my friend, try to decipher the following in layman's terms before you move on to more complicated material:
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them, Sam-I-am
Do not like them here or there
I do not like them anywhere.
Not in a house, not with a mouse
Not here or there, not anywhere
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them, Sam-I-am
Could you? Would you? With a goat?
Could you? Would you? On a boat?
Could you? Would you? In the rain?
Could you? Would you? On a train?
Not with a goat. Not on a boat.
Not in the rain. Not on a train.
Not in a house. Not with a mouse.
Oh, no!
Not in a box. Not with a fox.
Not in a tree. You let me be!
I do not like green eggs and ham!
I do not like them, Sam-I-am!
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-12-14 13:46:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
HULL CITY..
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-14 13:45:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah, and that 80 proof cough syrup kicks ass.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-12-14 13:40:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
don't worry it was late, bubba had imbibed a lot of cough medicine
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-14 13:33:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-14 00:31:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:07:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
With the obvious exception of Skrappy. Thank you, Skrap. You are cool people. . .
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uh... I gave you a serious answer, too. Whatever.
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Yes, you did. I apologize for the oversight.
Submitted by Banjo (user info) at 2008-12-14 12:32:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein is fun.
I you're looking in the mirror travelling at light speed, seemingly you won't have any reflection... Makes me wonder if you're travelling at faster than the speed of light and you had a mirror behind you whether you could see your reflection in it or if somebody would see it standing behind you. I have questions on whether or not we'd see at all our eyes being reliant on light bouncing off things and that.
And then there's dark matter, parallel universes, black holes, quantum gravity, chaos theory and we venture into the realms of stephen hawking and the like...
I could do Einstein at school, I challenge anybody here to put Stephen Hawking into laymans terms...
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2008-12-14 10:29:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't even think Albert grasped his formula 100%, so don't feel bad.
Here are some quotes by Einstein.
"I don't believe in mathematics."
"Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
I love Einstein, not so much for his physics, but for his philosophy.
You'd probably also enjoy reading about Richard Feynman. Besides being a super genius, he was a character.
Submitted by Mr_Trollope (user info) at 2008-12-14 08:25:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-12-14 00:35:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh dear.
You really shouldn't strain your brain too much bubba.
You know it gives you those awful headaches. And those put you in such a foul mood that you won't place nice with all your other special friends.
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-14 00:31:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:07:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
With the obvious exception of Skrappy. Thank you, Skrap. You are cool people. . .
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uh... I gave you a serious answer, too. Whatever.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-12-13 22:06:42 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-12-13 21:21:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
EASY!
It is right here.
"Stephen Hawking Addresses Ubersite."
http://www.ubersite.com/m/99557
(Not acting like a know-it-all genius on uber = +2)
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:24:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
FUCK YOU, Locksly, you wannabe.
Skrap, of course I remember hip.
:)
Submitted by locksly (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:21:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:05:11 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Even a real serious question cannot get a serious answer from the assholes here. FUCK all of you.
______________
LOLZ why do you continue posting then?
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:12:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
PS: remember "hip"?
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:11:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It is, I think, not so much as a 'cool' thing as an 'old' thing. I get happier and happier about not being hip as time goes by.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:07:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
With the obvious exception of Skrappy. Thank you, Skrap. You are cool people. . .
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 20:05:11 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Even a real serious question cannot get a serious answer from the assholes here. FUCK all of you.
Submitted by pandora (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:57:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:04:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:02:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
They have never been observed at rest that I know of, but it's theoretically possible.
===============
That may be the glow I see in the corner, late at night. . .
:D
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No, that's from taking too much mescaline in the 1960's.
Submitted by Wildman (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:52:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:30:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:05:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein's theories are much like zen koans, in that they're surprisingly simple to grasp if you don't think too hard.
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Alas, wise one, I have read Zen Koans, and they suck. So solly, Cholley. . .
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:05:49 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
lol
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:05:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein's theories are much like zen koans, in that they're surprisingly simple to grasp if you don't think too hard.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 19:01:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Holy shit! You are dredging up old Physics/Chemistry.
RH (1/n^2i - 1/n^2f) = E (RH = 2.18^-18)
E/6.626 ^-34 = v
C/v = lambda
MY BRAIN HURTS NOW!!
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:48:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Some of the experimental results were there before Einstein got seriously working, but Einstein came up with the theory that explained the results and then predicted the results of future experiments. That is why it's Einstein's Theory and not Lorentz's or Maxwell's or Minkowski's.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:43:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:48:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
...
Most physicists today postulate that photons have no mass, Why, then, is light affected by the gravitational pull of a large body such as the Sun?
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A way of thinking about it is this: Photons may be considered both a wave and a particle. Photons have energy, the amount of which is given by the wavelength. Shorter wavelengths = higher energy. The equivalent mass energy of the photon is given by E = m c^2. Under many circumstances, photons traveling in a near vacuum 'decay' into a positron and an electron, which then (if they do not interact with another bit of matter) recombine (or annihilate) and form a photon. Same energy and direction as the initial photon, but not the same photon. In the matter state they are, as is all matter, affected by gravity. Thus: gravitational lensing. Certainly not a complete review, but a way of thinking of the concept.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:39:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks, Skrap, but everything you stated was known before Einstein, if I'm not mistaken.
Correct me if I'm wrong. . .
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:31:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Basic tenet: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only altered in form. If I drop a rock off a bridge, gravity converts gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy as the rock falls faster and faster. Burn gasoline in a car's combustion engine and you convert chemical potential energy into heat, then some (quite little, actually) of that into kinetic energy of the vehicle. Hit the brakes on that vehicle and you convert kinetic energy to heat. Digest food and your body conveerts chemical potential energy to heat, until the rock I dropped from the bridge earlier hits you on the head and your factory shuts down.
Mass may also be considered a form of energy (sometimes called nuclear potential energy or nuclear energy). In a nuclear reaction, one atom is split (fission) or two/more combine (fusion) and the sum mass of the resultant matter has ever so slightly less than the sum of it's parts before the reaction. That difference is mass that has been converted to another form of enegry. In the case of fission or fusion, it is heat energy, which is the atomic-scale velocity of the resultant particles measured by it's temperature. How much mass has been converted to heat energy? The heat energy released is related to the change in mass by a constant: the speed of light. Because mass and heat are but different forms of the same thing - energy - then converting between them with a constant is not dissimilar to converting a speed between km/hr and ft/sec with a constant. To go from km/hr to ft/sec, you multiply by 0.9113. To go from a change in mass energy to a change in heat energy, you multiply the change in mass energy by (299792458)^2.
Also: the guy seems like kind of a blowhard.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:04:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:02:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
They have never been observed at rest that I know of, but it's theoretically possible.
===============
That may be the glow I see in the corner, late at night. . .
:D
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 18:02:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
They have never been observed at rest that I know of, but it's theoretically possible.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:59:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Ah, yes, the old "photons at rest have no mass." When are photons actually at rest? If at rest and not moving, they won't get from here to there and you won't see them. . .
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:56:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:48:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:44:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein said a lot of things. What are you interested in knowing in particular?
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Most physicists today postulate that photons have no mass, Why, then, is light affected by the gravitational pull of a large body such as the Sun?
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If I'm not mistaken, it's because they are in motion. It's like this: Space is a malleable fabric, and the Sun's mass is making an indention in the fabric. The photons are in motion and are sliding along the curves in space that the sun creates.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:52:00 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Uniter, you are old and worn out in your comments. Why not get hip and drop the bullshit. Get modern, moron.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:49:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Einstein's theory is actually two theories.
His first, the special theory of relativity, has two parts. The first says that the speed of light is constant for everything. Anything moving at the same speed is subject to the same laws. It's like a cosmic pedophilia detector that catches everyone and metes out the exact same sentence.
The second part is that time and space are relative rather than absolute. In other words, if you are jacking off a young boy in a speeding train, your hand will actually move more slowly than when the train is stopped at the station to allow the police on board to arrest you. Time and space were said to be relative in a special case, hence 'special' theory of relativity. That special case was the absence of gravity.
Later, Einstein came up with the general theory of relativity, which basically asks you to imagine time and space together as a fabric, like the canvas tent you stretch over your boy scouts to hide from the helicopters.
When you wake up in the morning with a stiffy and roll across the top of the space-time fabric, it gives way to your heavy body. Your fat ass is causing space to curve. And the little boys underneath to scream.
Think of gravity not as a force but a field.
Think of yourself, a man outstanding in his field.
The field of pedophilia.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:48:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:44:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein said a lot of things. What are you interested in knowing in particular?
=============
Most physicists today postulate that photons have no mass, Why, then, is light affected by the gravitational pull of a large body such as the Sun?
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:44:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Einstein said a lot of things. What are you interested in knowing in particular?
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:33:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Joey and brandy: two of my favorite things. . .
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:27:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
If I had a pet gerbil, I'd name him Einstein.
But I don't have a gerbil.
Maybe I should get a gerbil.
They come highly recommended.
In gerbil land, the gerbil is king.
In Joey Land, brandy is king right now.
No Ice.
No gerbils.
No nonsense.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:15:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:08:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
that dude sounds like an enormous blowhard
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Experima, actually, he is a great guy. He simply posed the point that math is my downfall.
Oh, I can do simple Algebra, Trig, and basic Calculus, but the equations required for an understanding of Einstein are beyond my meager abilities. :(
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:15:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:14:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
HOORAY +2s all round
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:09:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
and LOL@redskies
ps check your real live mail soon red xx
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:08:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
that dude sounds like an enormous blowhard
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2008-12-13 17:08:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=explaining+einstein+to+the+layman
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-12-13 16:57:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I apologize for using "suffice" twice.
Wow, a rhyme.