In the movie “The Elegant Universe,” I learned about several different brilliant physicists, astronomers, and scientists in general. Out of all the brilliant names and minds that I learned about the most notorious and interesting was non other than Mr. Albert Einstein. Einstein was born on March 14th, 1879 and died April 15th, 1955. Einstein lived most of his life progressing the theory of relativity. His theory of relativity included gravity as a determinant of the curve of a space-time sequence.
The Theory of Relativity was the recognition that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and an absolute physical boundary for motion. I chose Albert Einstein for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason is his substantial contribution to science. Albert Einstein may be the most familiar and universally known scientist in the world. I also look at Albert Einstein as a role model like figure because of his persistence, perseverance, and brilliance. Einstein being Jewish had to overcome the challenges of living during the holocaust era. He also had to show persistence.
Several times Einstein found himself being doubted or had people challenging his work. In these cases he only worked harder and continued to prove his theorems. I learned several important physics concepts through the movie. One of which is in regard to electromagnetic force. An electromagnetic force holds atoms and molecules together. The forces of electric attraction and repulsion of electric charges are so much stronger than the other three fundamental forces that they can be considered to be negligible as determiners of atomic and molecular structure.
Another intriguing physics concept I learned from the movie was that nothing could exceed the speed of light. This idea was brought forth by Albert Einstein when questioning Newton’s theory that gravity was instantaneous across any distance. Einstein’s theory was that heavy objects like the sun warped the fabric of space time. Gravity is the way we see warped space time. Einstein also proved that gravity waves travel at the speed of light. Nothing is faster than the speed of light.
Through the movie I was able to conclude that the electromagnetic force is in fact much stronger than our gravitational force. Through the movie I was also able to learn more about lesser known forces. I learned about the strong and weak force. These two forces are what holds things together at the atomic levels. The weak force is a fundamental force of nature that underlies some forms of radioactivity, initiates the nuclear fusion reaction that fuels the Sun, and governs the decay of unstable subatomic particles such as mesons.
The strong force binds subatomic particles together in clusters to make more-familiar subatomic particles, such as protons and neutrons. It also holds together the atomic nucleus and underlies interactions between all particles. Due to the movie my perspective on certain scientific fields has drastically changed. Take, for example, the electromagnetic force. Through the description of an electromagnetic force I now find myself questioning whether or not I am truly sitting in a chair or standing on the ground. I was shocked when the thought provoking fact was brought forth that we do not in fact touch anything.
The movie also depicted the idea that when we drop an object it is traveling at a slant because of because the orbit of Earth is at a slant. I enjoyed The Elegant Universe a lot. I learned a lot through this movie. Often I found myself on the edge of my seat intrigued by every new theory being brought forth by each astounded scientist. I enjoyed how in depth they went in explaining and getting across each theory and concept. I left this video a better student and more interested, confused, and even prepared student for my later years in the scientific fields.
