NEWS | SEPTEMBER 15, 2005

Lightspeed Explanation
Physics professor takes one hour to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity

By C J Patton
The Shorthorn staff

In September 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper describing what would later be known as the special theory of relativity. Since that time, people have devoted entire careers examining it to explain it to the masses.

Zdzislaw Musielak did it in an hour.

Dr. Musielak, a physics professor here, conducted the first of five planned events to honor the World Year of Physics, the centennial anniversary of Einstein’s greatest contributions to science. He said he wanted to give an understanding of time and space as physics describes it.

Musielak said Einstein’s theory turned Sir Isaac Newton’s description of time and space on its head, saying that it was possibly the most important discovery in the history of the field.

“This was the first major revolution in physics,” he said. “The paper basically said that the old view, which was established by Newton, was basically incorrect.”

Musielak illustrated Newton’s view using an observer who watches two cars drive by at different speeds. Even though each car would have speeds relative to one another, he said their basic universal properties were identical.

“The most important thing about Newton’s theory is that time and space are absolute,” he said. “The driver of the blue car and the driver of the red car experience the same time as the observer.”

However, Musielak said Einstein proved that this theory is incorrect after years of work. Einstein said all people experience a unique mix of personal time and space, which changes in proportion to their velocity.

This effect, he said, is only apparent at speeds nearing the speed of light. To illustrate, he described a scenario in which an observer, standing on the Cooper Street overpass on the interstate, watches a car travel with firecrackers strapped to the hood.

“Make special arrangements with Arlington police, and begin on I-30,” he said. “Begin to travel at 0.5 times the speed of light.”

Musielak said that, in Newton’s view, when the firecrackers are detonated directly under the overpass, the observer would see all the flashes at the same time. However, because the car’s space-time matrix is skewed, the observer would see the lights flash at different times.

He said Einstein’s theory tied time to motion in a new way.

“The clock will tick at different speeds if you are in a system which is moving than a system which is not moving,” he said. “A clock in motion ticks slower than a clock at rest.”

Business management junior Glen Delgado said he attended the event as part of a speech class to observe a public speaker’s habits and mannerisms. He said he enjoyed the seminar but didn’t come away with a very good understanding of Musielak’s explanation.

“You really can’t explain something like that in such a short amount of time,” he said. “I mean, people study this for years.”

Musielak’s lecture marks the first of the three-day commemoration of Einstein’s most productive year, 1905. Libraries Dean Gerald Saxon said the library partnered with the College of Science to hold the events in honor of the revolutionary work Einstein produced 100 years ago.

“1905 was a great year for Einstein,” he said. “His published work throughout the span of several months in 1905 expanded our view of light, energy and time.”

The University of Texas at Arlington | Department of Student Publications
© Copyright 2001. All Rights Reserved. Corrections | Webmaster