The understanding of many aspects of astronomy is closely linked with relativity and the finite speed of light, yet relativity is generally not discussed in great detail during planetarium shows for the general public. One reason may be the difficulty to visualize these phenomena in a way that is appropriate for planetariums; another may be their distance from everyday experiences that makes it hard for audiences to connect with the presentation. In this paper, we describe an effort to visualize special relativity phenomena in an immersive “everyday” scenario. In order to bring special relativity to human scale, we simulate a universe in which the speed of light is slower, so that “everyday” speeds become relativistic. We describe the physics and the technical details of our first planetarium show, “Einstein’s Playground,” which premiered at the Museum of Science, Boston.
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December 2017
PAPERS|
December 01 2017
“Einstein’s Playground”: An Interactive Planetarium Show on Special Relativity
Zachary Sherin;
Zachary Sherin
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, Cambridge, MA
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Philip Tan;
Philip Tan
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, Cambridge, MA
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Heather Fairweather;
Heather Fairweather
2
Charles Hayden Planetarium
, Museum of Science, Boston, MA
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Gerd Kortemeyer
Gerd Kortemeyer
3
Michigan State University
, East Lansing, MI
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Phys. Teach. 55, 550–554 (2017)
Citation
Zachary Sherin, Philip Tan, Heather Fairweather, Gerd Kortemeyer; “Einstein’s Playground”: An Interactive Planetarium Show on Special Relativity. Phys. Teach. 1 December 2017; 55 (9): 550–554. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5011832
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