{"id":111280,"date":"2023-08-19T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=111280"},"modified":"2023-08-23T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T19:24:22","slug":"einstein-unified-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/einstein-unified-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Einstein & Unified Theory: How Relativity Advances the Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What problems of science did Einstein solve? How did he push the quest for a unified theory<\/a> forward?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For centuries, scientists have looked for a single theory that would unify different fields of science, providing one equation that gives us a complete understanding of the universe. In The God Equation<\/em>, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku discusses Albert Einstein’s contributions to the quest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn about Einstein and unified theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Before Einstein<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before Albert Einstein, unified theory was advanced by the work of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell. Let’s take a look at what Einstein built upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1666 to 1687, Isaac Newton<\/a> worked out the first mathematical theory to explain the laws governing the motion of objects, as well as the \u201claw of universal gravitation\u201d that explained both how objects fall to Earth and how the planets orbit around the sun. Kaku says this was a breakthrough moment in science because Newton had shown through hard, solid math that celestial objects followed the same laws of motion as everyday objects<\/strong> in the world of human experience. Prior to Newton, religious leaders and philosophers had always considered the skies above to be separate from the Earth. But Newton\u2019s mathematics, once confirmed by observation, proved that the two were the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Newton\u2019s revelations did more than set physics on the path toward a unified theory, as Kaku suggests. Newton\u2019s mathematical approach constituted a whole new paradigm for scientific thought. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions<\/em><\/a>, Thomas Kuhn defines a scientific paradigm as an idea that serves as a framework for a whole field of scientific inquiry. Newton\u2019s laws are often seen as part of the shift from an Earth-centered model of the universe<\/a> to one in which the planets revolve around the sun, but Newton\u2019s discoveries went deeper than that. In Cosmos<\/em><\/a>, Carl Sagan explains that Newton\u2019s most important contribution to science was to show that the fundamental rules of nature can be expressed as mathematical laws.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell<\/a> expressed the relationship between electricity and magnetism in mathematical form. When he did, his equations revealed that the back-and-forth between electrical and magnetic fields, in which one creates the other and vice versa, propagates at a constant speed\u2014the speed of light! Out of the blue, Maxwell had discovered that light is a wave in the electromagnetic field.<\/strong> Not only that, but his equations predicted frequencies of light beyond what we can see\u2014the entire invisible electromagnetic spectrum that astronomers now use to explore the depths of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Einstein & Unified Theory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Newton\u2019s and Maxwell\u2019s equations, physicists at the start of the 20th century believed there wasn\u2019t much left to explore. But, Kaku points out that there was a problem: Under certain conditions, Newton\u2019s and Maxwell\u2019s theories were incompatible with each other. After explaining the nature of the problem, we\u2019ll discuss how Albert Einstein<\/a> solved it by reimagining Newton\u2019s laws of motion and then rewriting Newton\u2019s law of gravitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contradictions between Newton\u2019s and Maxwell\u2019s laws appear when you consider objects moving near the speed of light. Suppose a cat is chasing a laser pointer at 600 million miles per hour. The beam of light from the laser pointer passes the cat at 671 million miles per hour. How fast would the beam of light appear from the cat\u2019s point of view? Newton says that speeds add and subtract\u2014the cat would see the laser beam moving at only 71 million miles per hour. However, Maxwell\u2019s equations suggest that the speed of light <\/strong>never <\/em><\/strong>changes.<\/strong> No matter how fast the cat is chasing the pointer, it will always perceive the ray of light to be moving at 671 million miles per hour. Both answers can\u2019t be true, so either Newton or Maxwell was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Though Kaku doesn\u2019t address it, physicists knew that it was Newton who was wrong because of an experiment conducted in 1887<\/a> by Albert Michelson<\/a> and Edward Morley<\/a>. At the time, scientists believed that electromagnetic waves such as light propagated through an invisible medium known as aether<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and that light\u2019s observed speed would vary under the rules of Newtonian physics. Michelson and Morley designed an experiment to measure the difference in the speed of light parallel and perpendicular to the Earth\u2019s motion<\/a> through the aether. The experiment showed no difference at all\u2014the speed of light went unchanged regardless of the speed and direction of the observer, disproving the \u201caether theory\u201d of how light travels.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special Relativity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kaku writes that Einstein proposed a radical solution to the problem. For the speed of light to remain a fixed constant no matter how fast an observer is moving, space and time have to distort so the speed of light remains the same. <\/strong>This is the basis of Einstein\u2019s theory of special relativity<\/em>. In Einstein\u2019s new equations governing objects in motion, Newton\u2019s laws still apply if your speed is relatively slow, but as you accelerate, time slows down, space contracts, and the speed of light that you observe remains unchanged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Physicists at the time were reluctant to accept Einstein\u2019s theory, though Kaku doesn\u2019t elaborate on the era\u2019s disputes. At first, Einstein\u2019s theory slowly gained acceptance within Germany<\/a>, while scientists in the US and Britain clung to the aether model, considering Einstein\u2019s work to either be ridiculous or too hard to understand. Einstein\u2019s theories were more widely accepted by the 1920s<\/a> after his expanded theory of general relativity\u2014which we\u2019ll cover next\u2014was confirmed via astronomical observations in 1919<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Einstein\u2019s equations also add additional layers of symmetry to Newton\u2019s. The first is that, in relativity, you can substitute time for any direction in space. In other words, relativity is symmetrical in four dimensions, not just three. The second symmetry is similar to when Faraday showed that electricity and magnetism are interchangeable. In this case, Einstein revealed that energy and matter are equivalent to each other via his famous equation E=mc2<\/sup> (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). Therefore, says Kaku, special relativity unites energy and matter, as well as time and space.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cosmic Speed Limit<\/strong>

Because mass and energy are interchangeable, what happens when you approach the speed of light is even stranger than Kaku suggests. In A Brief History of Time<\/em><\/a>, Stephen Hawking explains that as objects accelerate, gaining energy, they gain additional mass as well<\/a>. At the relatively slow \u201cNewtonian\u201d speeds we experience in our everyday world, this effect is so tiny as to be immeasurable, but if you were to accelerate a spacecraft to a significant fraction of the speed of light, the spacecraft\u2019s mass would noticeably increase.

In fact, as an object gets to the speed of light, its mass increases exponentially, requiring even more energy to accelerate it further. An object moving at <\/em>the speed of light would have infinite mass, which would require an infinite amount of energy to propel it at that velocity. Hence, the speed of light is the cosmic speed limit\u2014there isn\u2019t enough energy in the universe to accelerate an object to lightspeed<\/a>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

General Relativity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Einstein knew his theory was incomplete. It corrected Newton\u2019s laws of motion but said nothing about the law of gravitation. According to Newton, the effects of gravity are instantaneous\u2014if a source of gravity suddenly moves, the change in its force is immediately felt\u2014but that contradicts the rule that nothing can travel faster than light, as established by Maxwell and Einstein. Kaku states that this was the next vital step in unifying physics\u2014to combine Einstein\u2019s theory of special relativity<\/a> with Newton\u2019s theory of universal gravitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Einstein\u2019s solution was to propose that the force of gravity is actually an illusion caused by the deformation of space.<\/strong> Consider a marble rolling across a trampoline. If the trampoline is flat, the marble rolls straight across, but if there\u2019s a bowling ball sitting in the middle, pulling the fabric of the trampoline down, the marble will appear to be \u201cattracted\u201d to the ball, no matter which way it was originally rolling. This is the essence of Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity<\/em>, which shows that matter warps space around it\u2014the greater the mass, the greater the \u201cdent\u201d it makes. Kaku lists ways that Einstein\u2019s equations reveal things that Newton\u2019s can\u2019t\u2014such as predicting how gravity causes light to bend or explaining the planet Mercury\u2019s erratic orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Kaku also mentions gravitational waves<\/a> in the fabric of space, which Einstein predicted but which weren\u2019t observed until 100 years later<\/a>, once again solidifying the theory of relativity<\/a>. However, since the time of Kaku\u2019s writing, even more discoveries have been made in this field. In 2023, astronomers used observations of pulsars\u2014the rapidly rotating cores of dead stars<\/a>\u2014as a way to observe gravity waves on a galactic scale. By measuring minute variations in different pulsars\u2019 rates of rotation, in 2023 astronomers discovered a universal hum of gravity waves<\/a> caused by the merger of supermassive black holes. These titanic astronomical events may yield clues to how the universe has developed<\/a> in the billions of years since the Big Bang.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise: Reflect on Theories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The implications of Einstein\u2019s relativity\u2014that time and space can stretch and bend\u2014have been verified by experiments for over 100 years. When such seemingly implausible theories are confirmed by experiments, does it make it easier for you to accept it as fact, even if you don\u2019t understand<\/a> the math behind it? Why or why not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What problems of science did Einstein solve? How did he push the quest for a unified theory forward? For centuries, scientists have looked for a single theory that would unify different fields of science, providing one equation that gives us a complete understanding of the universe. In The God Equation, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku discusses Albert Einstein’s contributions to the quest. Continue reading to learn about Einstein and unified theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":87251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,160],"tags":[1244],"class_list":["post-111280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-science","tag-the-god-equation","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nEinstein & Unified Theory: How Relativity Advances the Quest - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists have long sought a unified theory to give us a complete understanding of the universe. 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