2021-03-07
- Chapter 24.1: Introducing General Relativity
- Learning Objectives
- Discuss some of the key ideas of the theory of general relativity
- Recognize that one's experiences of gravity and acceleration are interchangeable and indistinguishable
- Distinguish between Newtonian ideas of gravity and Einsteinian ideas of gravity
- Recognize why the theory of general relativity is necessary for understanding the nature of black holes
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.2: Spacetime and Gravity
- Learning Objectives
- Describe Albert Einstein's view of gravity as the warping of spacetime in the presence of massive objects
- Understand Isaac Newton's concept of gravitational force between two massive objects and Albert Einstein's concept of warped spacetime are different explanations for the same observed accelerations of one massive object in the presence of another massive object
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.3: Tests of General Relativity
- Learning Objectives
- Describe unusual motion of Mercury around the Sun and explain how general relativity explains the observed behaviour
- Provide examples of evidence for light rays being bent by massive objects, as predicted by general relativity's theory about the warping of spacetime
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.4: Time in General Relativity
- Learning Objectives
- Describe how Einsteinian gravity slows clocks and can decrease a light wave's frequency of oscillation
- Recognize that the gravitational decrease in a light wave's frequency is compensated by an increase in the light wave's wavelength - the so-called gravitational redshift - so that the light continues to travel at constant speed
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.5: Black Holes
- Learning Objectives
- Explain the event horizon surrounding a black hole
- Discuss why the popular notion of black holes as great sucking monsters that can ingest material at great distances from them is erroneous
- Use the concept of warped spacetime near a black hole to track what happens to any object that might fall into a black hole
- Recognize why the concept of a singularity - which is infinite density and zero volume - presents major challenges to our understanding of matter
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.6: Evidence for Black Holes
- Learning Objectives
- Describe what to look for when seeking and confirming the presence of a stellar black hole
- Explain how a black hole is inherently black yet can be associated with luminous matter
- Differentiate between stellar black holes and the black holes in the centers of galaxies
- Learning Objectives
- Chapter 24.7: Gravitational Wave Astronomy
- Learning Objectives
- Describe what a gravitational wave is, what can produce it, and how fast it propagates
- Understand the basic mechanisms used to detect gravitational waves
- Learning Objectives