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Nov 12, 2005 · Einstein's Big Idea. Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy...
Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation.
Oct 11, 2005 · Einstein's Big Idea: Directed by Gary Johnstone. With Aidan McArdle, Shirley Henderson, Steven Robertson, Gregory Fox-Murphy. This docudrama examines the history of scientific discovery that lead up to Albert Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 and its aftermath in the creation of nuclear energy.
- (640)
- Documentary, Biography, Drama
- Gary Johnstone
- 2005-10-11
Einstein's Big Idea homepage. How would 10 top physicists—two Nobel Prize winners among them—describe Einstein's equation to curious non-physicists? Nima Arkani-Hamed Theoretical Physicist
- The Equation Explained
- E = Mc2 in Miniature
- Heavenly Applications
- A Nuclear World
- A Cosmological Constant
- Intangible Aspects
First, though, a capsule explanation of "energy equals mass times the speed oflight squared" might be helpful. On the most basic level, the equation saysthat energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable; they are different forms ofthe same thing. Under the right conditions, energy can become mass, and viceversa. We humans don't see them that way—ho...
Perhaps the equation's most far-reaching legacy is that it provides the key tounderstanding the most basic natural processes of the universe, frommicroscopic radioactivity to the big bang itself. Radioactivity is E = mc2 in miniature. Einstein himself suspected thiseven as he devised the equation. In the 1905 paper in which he introducedE = mc2to t...
Space technologies owe much to the equation. Unceasing E =mc2disintegrations from radioactive elements such as plutoniumprovide everything from power for telecommunications satellites to the heatneeded to keep the Mars rovers functioning during the frigid martian winter.Space travel in the distant future may also rely on such radiation-derivedpower...
Einstein's equation also perfectly describes what's happening when we producenuclear energy. As Arlin Crotts, a professor of astronomy at ColumbiaUniversity, puts it, "our entire understanding of nuclear processes would besort of lost without it." Fission reactors in nuclear power plants generateelectricity by unlocking the energy tied up in fissio...
A similar process happens far beyond Earth, inside stars.The warmth we feel from the sun, for example, is the result of the energygenerated as hydrogen deep within our star continuously fuses to form helium.And stars don't stop there. When they exhaust their hydrogen, they begin toburn new fuels and create new elements, which are spewed out into th...
The equation's legacy extends into realms well beyond the scientific. DavidHogg finds it very useful in teaching, for instance. "I use the equation a lotin class because it's the one equation that all students have definitely heardof," he says. "So one of its legacies is very sociological: it just capturesthe imagination of everyone." It also helps...
NOVA dramatizes the human stories of the men and women whose innovative thinking across four centuries led finally to Einstein’s bold breakthrough. Based on a bestseller by David Bodanis, Einstein’s Big Idea, helps viewers understand the equation by showing where it came from and how it has changed the world.
Oct 10, 2005 · Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the...
