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Relativity and the Cosmos

Resource for Grades 6-12

WGBH: Nova
Relativity & the Cosmos

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Source: NOVA: "Einstein Revealed"


Resource Produced by:

WGBH Educational Foundation

Collection Developed by:

WGBH Educational Foundation

Collection Credits

Collection Funded by:

National Science Foundation

Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which develops from the idea that gravity is equivalent to acceleration, was the first major new theory of gravity since Isaac Newton's. In this media-rich text resource from the NOVA Web site, read why someone might call general relativity "the biggest leap of the scientific imagination in history."

open Background Essay

In this resource, MIT professor and author (Einstein's Dreams, Good Benito, and Dance for Two) Alan Lightman explains the implications of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. General Relativity predicts, among other things, the bending of starlight by gravity, a slight irregularity in Mercury's orbit, and the existence of black holes.

Because no one else was thinking of gravity in the same terms as he was -- that is, as a geometrical phenomenon and a bending of time and space -- and because experimental results have yet to prove him wrong, Lightman states that Einstein merits the acclaim he has received as a scientist uniquely creative in his time.

open Discussion Questions

  • What and how did Einstein theorize about the relationship between gravity and acceleration?
  • Why does the exhaustion of a star's nuclear fuel cause it to collapse?

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