I’ve
always considered education to be very important. Full
of enthusiasm, I went to the library the other day and I started
reading scientific books. I found one about Einstein.
I started reading the book and noticed
that sitting at the table next to mine was a man reading a book about
World Statistics. Every so often he muttered to himself “Oh
dear …” “Dear oh dear …” and such like expressions spreading doom and
despondency on my re-awakened enthusiasm for the wonders of science.
Eventually
he lent over towards me and said “Do you know that every time I take a
breath in and out someone somewhere in the world dies!”
I suggested he uses a better mouthwash.
But I digress. Back to my book. Which is much more interesting, I tell you.
Einstein
was quite a clever person you know. It’s really amazing what that man
knew. It’s so wonderful that every so often the world produces great
geniuses like him who discover or invent new ways to improve our lives
and makes us all better for it.
Folks
like Einstein and Penicillin and Magna Carter didn’t get to where they are by just
kicking a ball in the park, you know. I bet they spent many an hour in
the library reading books and doing their homework instead of watching
TV.
Here are a few interesting facts I learnt from the book about Einstein.
The
furthest away you are from the earth’s gravity the faster time goes.
Say you’re on earth with nothing better to do than looking at your
watch. And out there very far away in outer space there’s another person also
looking at his watch. He’d be in a spaceship of course; otherwise he
won’t be able to breathe in space. Anyway … according to Einstein the
other fellow’s watch will go faster than yours; and no doubt the battery in his watch would run down much quicker. As watch batteries weren't invented at Einstein's time he could not prove his theory.
To
prove this, scientists have placed a very accurate clock, measuring the
smallest nth of a second, at the top of a very tall skyscraper, and an
exactly similar clock on the ground floor.
After
a period of time the clock at the top of the building was a few minutes
ahead of its counterpart at the bottom. It had gained time because at
the top of the building time was faster than at the bottom. Because it
was further away from the earth’s gravity. Also, if you drop a cat from that height of a very tall skyscraper it will land on its feet but get splattered all over the ground.
Not convinced, I tried this experiment at home.
I put a clock upstairs in the bedroom and another one downstairs in the hall.
The following day the clock at the top was ONE HOUR ahead of the one downstairs.
The battery in the clock downstairs had run out.
Einstein
also claimed that because time is faster in outer space, away from the
earth’s gravity, then someone in outer space, say a twin, would age
faster than his brother on earth.
The
book therefore recommended that people should not live in high-rise
apartment blocks because they’ll age faster than people living at ground
floor level. Especially if the elevator is not working and they have to
walk up and down all those stairs to their apartments.
Enlightened
with this knowledge I have moved our bedroom downstairs and the
kitchen, (where we don’t go that often thanks to fast-foods delivered to
our door), has been moved where the bedroom was.
The bathroom moved downstairs by itself when I overfilled the bath with water and it came down through the ceiling of our living room.
Einstein
also said that in outer space, at the very edge, space is curved. This
is because, apparently, gravity (I don’t know whose gravity if gravity
is in effect on earth); but stay with me for a while on this … in outer
space the very edge of space is curved because gravity makes it so.
I
could not understand how this related to bananas being bent; maybe they
come from outer space. Or perhaps I was distracted by another book
about fruits which someone else in the library was reading.
Einstein also taught about light. Did you know that nothing can go faster than light?
If
you could arrange a race between say light, sound and someone in the
fastest car ever made; light would always win. That’s because it has
moved off the starting line before the sound of the starting pistol has
reached your ears.
And
if the fastest car was driving with its lights on, then its light would
reach the finishing line at the same time as the other light running on
foot. Because light travels at a constant speed regardless of its mode
of transport.
The
light from the sun reaches the earth at the speed of light. The
distance it has to travel however is so long that by the time it reaches
the earth it’s night time down here and we’ve all gone to sleep.
I’ve
tried to measure the speed of light in my home experiments. I think
I’ve actually proved that some of Einstein’s Theory about light may well
be wrong.
If
nothing goes faster than light then how come with these new energy
efficient light-bulbs I can get downstairs faster than the light at the
top illuminates the staircase?
But then these light-bulbs were not invented when Einstein was around. So we can’t blame him for getting this one wrong.
Finally, a word about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
This one is simple: The richer you are the more relatives will turn up at your funeral.
