Visualizing Relativity is a fascinating and difficult challenge, since it is far from standard experience. Motivated by UNESCO World Year of Physics
2005 we have realized a project devoted to explain Special Relativity in about five minutes, that has participated in the Relativity Challenge
of the Pirelli INTERNETional Award
being selected in the 10% best works among about 300 coming from all over the World.
The video (among the characters of which there is an avatar with the 3D-virtualized aspect of Albert Einstein) is embedded
into an interactive multimedia, cut into eleven separate parts -each one corresponding to specific parts of its scientific path- accompanied by in-depth texts that contain questions and answers referring to the specific topics covered in each segment.
The multimedia is the subject of a Special Report
appearing in the Portale della Ricerca Italiana
edited by CINECA on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Education. This Portal aims to present the most significant experiences of research and scientific communication in Italy.
The video and multimedia aim at introducing Special Relativity to large public, conjugating rigour with the challenge of explaining Relativity in 5 minutes (as required by Pirelli Relativity Challenge
in occasion of World Year of Physics 2005). Deeper scientific insights accompanied by historical and critical discussions form a Special
in this portal.
The video has scientific coherence, artistic validity and a structure faithful to history and actuality. Main characters are a boy and a girl asking a computer interface with human aspect of Einstein, realized in three dimensional graphics on the basis of photographic archives; Einstein's voice imitates recorded speeches of his. Backgrounds with stars (realized using Stellarium
) simulate real skylines on Ulm. Few moving images have been realized by blue screen
technique, to be later extracted and inserted into. Other stylized images (Pisa Tower, Galileo, Virgo) have been virtually reconstructed on real images. The background music was chosen among Einstein's favorites (Bach's Violinenkonzerten
).
The explosion of a supernova lets the youngsters argue about that sudden light in the Sky. Einstein explains that the light velocity in vacuum is a finite constant, a limit that cannot be surpassed, otherwise one could move backward in time. While a clock ticks counterclockwise the girl encounters herself in the past and realizes that this is an absurdity. Formulae appear and Einstein explains that some Mathematics is necessary. The mass increase of particles moving at high velocity (particle accelerators are shown) is visualized: a small fish with a Greek letter mu
as mouth (the Muon
) grows fatter and fatter with velocity, reaching the shape of a whale, while waves shorten and sound undergoes Doppler's effect
. Pushed further he explodes and mass is converted into energy. Relativity principle is explained by comparing the observer and particle viewpoints (seen as fishes of different masses and colours). The girl eventually understands that Relativity explains better many phenomena. Einsten warns that this is true only for velocities comparable with light and that Special Relativity had to be encompassed by a more General Theory -after ten more years of investigations- including also gravity. After having evoked Galilei the video ends by calling Lisa and Virgo, two fundamental experiments on gravity waves.
The video is embedded
into an interactive multimedia, cut into eleven separate parts, each one corresponding to consequential specific and homogeneous parts of its scientific path and accompanied by in-depth scientific texts, that can be recalled by means of suitable buttons at the beginning of each single section. A longer version is being realized in the framework of the project Più veloce della luce (Faster than light
: this is the translation of the Italian title).