So my niece asked me today what Einstein did, and I said that he basically had the stones to postulate that there was no ether.
We get into talking about it, so to illustrate the concept (I want to keep the math simple because she's 8) I start drawing her some trains, and velocities, and so on.
Me: "Let's say that these trains are 3 miles apart, and let's say that the speed of light is 3 miles per hour, to make the math easy. If they're standing still, it's easy. It takes 2 hours for light to go and bounce back from the other train. Well, what if the trains are both moving in the same direction at 4 miles per hour?"
My niece: "Um, the trains can't go faster than the speed of light."
So my niece asked me today what Einstein did, and I said that he basically had the stones to postulate that there was no ether.
We get into talking about it, so to illustrate the concept (I want to keep the math simple because she's 8) I start drawing her some trains, and velocities, and so on.
Me: "Let's say that these trains are 3 miles apart, and let's say that the speed of light is 3 miles per hour, to make the math easy. If they're standing still, it's easy. It takes 2 hours for light to go and bounce back from the other train. Well, what if the trains are both moving in the same direction at 4 miles per hour?"
My niece: "Um, the trains can't go faster than the speed of light."
Sounds like she's ready for a little quantum theory.
