position B
g
g
ground
Light
First position
second position
By the time the light gets to the second side of the box in the second
position, the box will be accelerated still more and because the light is
going in a straight line it will reach the third position
First position
Second position
Third position
So if we look at the light it will appear that it went from the hight point
of the box to the down one in a curve way
And this is exactly what happens when you are accelerating through space
with acceleration g, since the principle of equivalent says there is no
difference between position A and B of the first paragraph then it should
be valid for this case too
This principle was proved during a solar eclipse, when the moon blots the
sun and we observe it from the earth, we notice a star just salty to the
right of our sun
But astronomers knew that the actual position of the star was behind the
sun and it shouldnt have been possible to see it and the only explanation
for it was that light from the star was being bent in the gravitational field
of the sun and then coming to us on earth giving the impressing of being
the observed location
The problem for Einstein was that Newtons low of gravitation wasnt able
to explain the bent of light so he came up with a completely different
approach for gravity, we can illustrate it by the next:
Lets suppose we have a trampoline (represents the space-time) and we
put a very small object C on it, it will make almost no effect on the
trampoline
Now lets suppose putting another object with a very big mass instead of
the first one, the trampoline will bent , this experience shows exactly what
a a curved space time is
But whats going to happen to that small object?
It will fall towards the massive body
Newton said that movement towards the big object was caused by the
gravitational attraction between the two masses, Einstein on the other
hand showed that the small object is moving along the shortest path in
curved space-time, So when the earth goes around the sun it means the
sun is so massive that it curves the space time and the earth is turning
around that curve
1
8 G
R g R+ g =
T (1)
2
C
metric tensor
R curvature scalar
cosmological constant
stress energy momention tensor
The point of this equation is that it balances two things; the left hand side
of it refers to curveting of space-time and the right hand side is to do with
mass and energy ,in short version it basecly says that mass tells space
time how to curve when space time tells mass how to move
We can represent the space time by a graph ( using one dimension for
space to simplify )
t
A
45
x
The speed of light is the angle of 45 degrees and because nothing can
travel with a speed greater than the speed of light then motion is spacetime must be in an angle of greater than 45 (A)
Lets consider an object accelerating in space-time, because its not
allowed to travel faster than the light the object t
Will continue to get faster
And faster but never reach
The speed of light
x
Now If we imagine having a rocket accelerating with two persons A+B,
after a while A is thrown outside and he continue his notion in a straight
line, the question that we have to answer is A and B see each other?
B
light cant reach B