The Parable of the Apple
Posted: 11.07.2003, 22:56
Hi all,
many years ago, when digesting the famous (but not always very good) 1280 page textbook
"GRAVITATION" by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne and John A. Wheeler,
I was fascinated by a drawing on the pitch black cover of that book.
It illustrated the "parable of the apple" that ever since stuck in my
mind somehow. Here it is...
Once upon a time a student lay in a garden under an apple tree
reflecting on the difference between Einstein's and Newton's views
about gravity. He was startled by the fall of an apple nearby. As he
looked at the apple, he noticed ants beginning to run along its
surface. His curiosity aroused, he thought to investigate the
principles of navigation followed by an ant. With his magnifying
glass, he noticed one track carefully, and, taking his knife, made a
cut in the apple skin one mm above the track and another cut one mm
below it. He peeled off the resulting little highway of skin and laid
it out on the face of his book. The track ran as straight as a laser
beam along this highway. No more economical path could the ant have
found to cover the ten cm from start to end of that strip of skin. Any
zigs and zags or even any smooth bend in the path on its way along the
apple peel from starting point to end point would have increased its
length.
"What a beautiful geodesic," the student commented.
His eye fell on two ants starting off from a common point P in
slightly different directions. Their routes happened to carry them
through the region of the dimple at the top of the apple, one on each
side of it. Each ant conscientiously pursured his geodesic. Each went
as straight on his strip of appleskin as he possibly could. Yet
because of the curvature of the dimple itself, the two tracks not only
crossed but emerged in very different directions.
"What happier illustration of Einstein's geometric theory of gravity
could one possibly ask?"
murmured the student.
"The ants move as if they were attracted by the apple stem. One might
have believed in a Newtonian force at a distance along his track. This
is surely Einstein's concept that all physics takes place by 'local
action'. What a difference from Newton's 'action at a distance' view
of physics! Now I understand better what this book means"
...
Bye Fridger
many years ago, when digesting the famous (but not always very good) 1280 page textbook
"GRAVITATION" by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne and John A. Wheeler,
I was fascinated by a drawing on the pitch black cover of that book.
It illustrated the "parable of the apple" that ever since stuck in my
mind somehow. Here it is...
Once upon a time a student lay in a garden under an apple tree
reflecting on the difference between Einstein's and Newton's views
about gravity. He was startled by the fall of an apple nearby. As he
looked at the apple, he noticed ants beginning to run along its
surface. His curiosity aroused, he thought to investigate the
principles of navigation followed by an ant. With his magnifying
glass, he noticed one track carefully, and, taking his knife, made a
cut in the apple skin one mm above the track and another cut one mm
below it. He peeled off the resulting little highway of skin and laid
it out on the face of his book. The track ran as straight as a laser
beam along this highway. No more economical path could the ant have
found to cover the ten cm from start to end of that strip of skin. Any
zigs and zags or even any smooth bend in the path on its way along the
apple peel from starting point to end point would have increased its
length.
"What a beautiful geodesic," the student commented.
His eye fell on two ants starting off from a common point P in
slightly different directions. Their routes happened to carry them
through the region of the dimple at the top of the apple, one on each
side of it. Each ant conscientiously pursured his geodesic. Each went
as straight on his strip of appleskin as he possibly could. Yet
because of the curvature of the dimple itself, the two tracks not only
crossed but emerged in very different directions.
"What happier illustration of Einstein's geometric theory of gravity
could one possibly ask?"
murmured the student.
"The ants move as if they were attracted by the apple stem. One might
have believed in a Newtonian force at a distance along his track. This
is surely Einstein's concept that all physics takes place by 'local
action'. What a difference from Newton's 'action at a distance' view
of physics! Now I understand better what this book means"
...
Bye Fridger
