General Relativity – The Orbital

Everyone always asks the question: ‘Where did we come from?’. Well why not look from the other perspective, ‘How will it all end?’ The true fate of the Universe lies, as bizarre as it may seem, in its geometry. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity formulates a particular set of field equations that have within them an unknown parameter. This parameter is known as the curvature of space-time, literally the shape of space and time, the very fabric of reality itself. Einstein proposed three situations of this parameter, known as: the “open universe”, a negative curvature leading to a saddle-like shape; the “flat universe”, where curvature is zero and thus the universe is flat; and the “closed universe”, a ballooned shaped universe with a positive curvature. Each of these situations have...

On 15 September 2015, the illusive gravitational waves were detected for the first time at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). This came ninety-nine years after Albert Einstein released his revolutionary paper that predicted these ripples in space and time. Two years on, researchers from LIGO have received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for this observation, the most prestigious prize in the physics community! So, what’s all the fuss about? Back in the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton formulated his theories of what is now called Newtonian Mechanics. This involved some object moving through some space, being acted upon by some force. Makes sense right? That’s how the world that we can see works! If I push something, it moves…but it turns out to be more ...

Tag: General Relativity

How will it all end?

Einstein’s Idea