Relativity (Day 3)

If you missed today:

1.  We tackled Einstein's General Relativity (What is Gravity?) with the following video and then the demonstration:
Check out the General Theory of Relativity for Dummies site

The above elegant symbolic formulation of Einstein's general theory of relativity cannot be used for actual calculations, but it clearly shows the principle that "matter tells spacetime how to curve, and curved space tells matter how to move"(John Wheeler, Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin) . The left side of the equation contains all the information about how space is curved, and the right side contains all the information about the location and motion of the matter. General relativity is beautiful and simple (to a physicist), but mathematically it's very complicated and subtle.

2.  We did a demonstration of how Einstein's General Theory of Relativity explained Gravity

3.  We passed out rattlebacks and let students figure them out

Sepp Hasslberger explained the Physics behind rattlebacks this way:  (click here)