Some relativistic properties and phenomenon

A while back I posted a discussion called "Quantum Mysteries", which ended up not really getting off of the ground. So now that I have as many followers as I do, I'd like to post something kind of like it again, but with a bit more broad of an explanation. It would be worthwhile to read the whole thing. Many of you have heard of things like time dilation, black holes, length contraction, space-time, the Big Bang, and how nothing travels faster than light. I have a pretty good model to explain all of this. Imagine the whole universe as a sheet of latex. From here on out, we're going to call this "space-time fabric". When the Big Bang happened, the universe was a little tiny dot. When it couldn't contain the energy, and the amount of heat and pressure became more powerful than the enormous amount of gravity holding it all together, it exploded, expanding at the speed of light, and it continues to expand to this day. So this space-time fabric that was all bundled up is now stretching, being blown up like a balloon, not gaining any mass, but growing in volume. Imagine you took a static portion of this expanding space-time, and put a sun smack-dab in the middle of it. The gravity of the sun actually curves the space-time fabric into itself, like placing a bowling ball on a trampoline. Other smaller bodies with less mass roll towards this sun, which we call "gravity" (ever heard of that?). Now, imagine this: the fabric is continuously being pulled by an invisible force, and it has an unbelievably tiny amount of friction, so it doesn't really affect the planets that are sitting on it, except for the tiniest amount. Let's say that this pulling is what time is. Before I go on, there are two things to keep in mind. First of all, the universe isn't a two-dimensional sheet, it's more like a bunch of sheets on top of one another. Secondly, when I say the fabric is being pulled to represent time, it's not in any certain direction. You could say that it's "omnidirectional", like it doesn't have any direction. It's not like you could say "Oh, time is that way!". Anyways, things that are heavy enough (like black holes) can actually rip through this fabric! Now that the stage is set, I'm going to introduce you to time dilation. Physicist have discovered that time can go at different speeds, and when an object is near intense gravity, times slows down, and when it's going near the speed of light, times speeds up! Imagine that you're an ant that can walk on space-time. Your friend, also a space-time-walking ant, is walking near a black hole, at the same speed that you're walking at. But his path dips down, whereas your path is the straight. That means that he has to travel further through space-time to go the same distance as you! And if he went in the black hole, he'd be below the event horizon and time would pass around him, but he wouldn't travel through time. That explains time dilation near large bodies, but what about going at high speeds? Earlier, I mentioned that this space-time has a super tiny amount of friction. Let's say that you're a space-time-walking ant, but you can walk at 90% the speed of light. You're going fast enough to actually have an effect on space-time, like pushing your finger into a table cloth, and making it bunch up. "A Wrinkle in Time", by Madeleine L'Engle, is based on this principle of folding space-time to get from one place to another by traveling less distance. Now I want to talk about how light is the ultimate speed. A couple of years ago, the scientific community thought that there were things, like neutrinos, that could actually go faster than light, but it turned out to be a mistake. This is the hardest part to explain. I'll start by explaining $E=mc^{2}$ . Einstein's famous equation. All that it states is that the more energy you put into an object, the more mass it gains, and the more mass that is gained, the more energy is needed to push that larger object, which is why things absolutely cannot go faster than light. But what about if you shine a flashlight in a train going 50 miles per hour. Doesn't that exceed the speed of light? Let's recall our formula for speed: $speed=\frac{distance}{time}$ . If it's not the time that's changing to make it seemingly possible to go faster than light, then it must be the distance. Therefore a ruler on a train going 50 miles per hour is actually shorter than one that's not on the ground! Crazy right?! It's called length contraction, and it's one of the most insane ideas that have been proven. Think about it! There are no laws that say it can't happen! If time can change, so can length! I hope that this article has given you something to think about. Post your reaction! ;)

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Some relativistic properties and phenomenon

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