Galloping with Light - Einstein, Relativity, and Folklore

by Felix Alba-Juez, Manuel Toharia-Cortés (Foreword), Jesus Zamora Bonilla (Foreword)

Tired of popular science books written by renowned physicists who think you cannot comprehend what they do, so... all you deserve is the illusion of understanding? If yes, this is the book for you. The fact that the reader may not have a scientific education does not mean that s/he does not have the intelligence to understand profound concepts -- as long as they are presented with semantic and epistemological clarity. After all, Einstein said that Science is simply the refinement of our intuition and everyday experiences.

Galloping with Light is a symbolic cavalcade that starts with the discovery of fire 1.5 million years ago; it allegorically employs the imagination of an adolescent called Einstein to explain the Theory of Relativity in non-scientific terms, and ends with the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon in 1969 -- depositing on lunar soil a laser retro-reflector which would prove, once again, that Einstein was right.

Motivated by his own difficulties to understand Relativity Theory, and convinced that it is possible to teach the layperson without distorting the subject matter, the author takes an approach utterly opposed to that of most popular science books. Knowing he has to demolish what the reader understands by time, distance, and motion, the author -using his experiences as a child, adolescent, and adult- dedicates the first half of the book to convince the reader that our intuition and common sense, as applied to those three everyday concepts, have a foundation as solid as that of a castle on the sand.

The purpose of this book is to demystify and 'defolklorize' the reader; to destroy the aura of mystery and incomprehensibility surrounding Relativity Theory, unmasking and debunking the body of popular (and scientific) beliefs (mostly erroneous) which -taking advantage of the confusion between relativity and subjectivity, as well as of Einstein's popularity and prestige- have been used to validate preposterous assertions in fields like psychology, morality, spirituality, sociology, literature, art, etc.

Editorial Reviews

A remarkable book. You have "galloped with light" very astutely and imaginatively! Besides being a thorough student of your subject, you are also a skilled pedagogue of it! -- Adolf Grünbaum, Author of Philosophical Problems of Space and Time and The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophic Critique.

I'm impressed at your pedagogical capability to explain advanced physics with words (almost) only. An absolutely fascinating reading, a cultural Odyssey through the roots of physics. -- Matts Roos, Author of "Introduction to Cosmology"

A delightful treat for the inquisitive mind. -- Raj Rajamani, Professor, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

By reading this book anyone can comprehend Einstein's concepts and implications and, at the end, one would like to start all over. -- Manuel Toharia Cortés, Scientific Director of 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias' (Spain)

An introduction intellectually accessible and literarily enchanting to the Theory of Relativity. -- Jesús Zamora Bonilla, Professor of Philosophy of Science (UNED, Spain)

If this reviewer was teaching a course in physics at the college level, Mr. Alba-Juez's book would be an absolute must on the course reading list. -- Donn Gurney (BookReview.com).

An excellent pick that blends humor, common sense, and knowledge into one entertaining package, highly recommended. -- Michael J. Carson (Midwest Book Review).

From the Author

At the beginning of 2008, I started my dream of finishing my life explaining the most profound concepts in Science to the big public, and decided to start doing so by writing this book about Einstein, Relativity, and Folklore. By Folklore, I mean the set of popular (and scientific) beliefs, mostly erroneous, associated with Relativity Theory and with our scientific activity in general.

In this new project as a writer of Popular Science, my objective is to reach the mass reader, that non-scientific person with the curiosity of understanding the Universe in which we live, who has the habit of reading and thinking and the respect for her/his own capacity of logical analysis and comprehension, and who is conscious of the relevance Science carries in current society, and the essential role it plays as a modeler of our destiny as a biological species.

Around my 14 years of age I avidly read a little book on Relativity Theory without understanding a thing. However, I was perplexed, because the three concepts about which the author elaborated upon over and over were precisely those which every 14-year kid had to be already intimately familiarized with, by the sheer fact of growing up: time, distance, and speed. What did I learn from that frustrating juvenile experience? That the author expected me to employ what every one of us (even adults) understands by time, distance, and speed to reach conclusions which only could be considered untrue and preposter...

Genres: Physics, Science, Nonfiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Felix was born in Burgos (Spain) in 1948. In 1949, his parents settled in Necochea (Argentina) where he completed his elementary and high school education. In 1966 he moved to Bahía Blanca (Argentina) where he graduated in Electrical Engineering at the 'Universidad Nacional del Sur' (UNS). In 1971, he started his academic life as Teaching Assistant of Mathematics at the UNS and, from 1974 until to 1983, he was Adjunct, Associate, and Full Professor at the 'Universidad Nacional de San Juan' in San Juan, Argentina.
In 1983, he moved to Salt Lake City, USA as Postdoctoral Fellow and soon after Research Associate for the Department of Metallurgy at the University of Utah, conducting basic Research and Development on Optimal Control of Mineral Grinding Operations.
In 1987, he left Academia and founded his own consulting company working over the years with private companies and governmental entities as DuPont, ALCOA, US Department of Transportation, NASA, and Dow Chemical. His first patent was granted in 1992 in USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan, protecting a technology based on ultrasonic spectroscopy for measuring particle size in industrial suspensions and emulsions.
In the period 1997-2001, Felix developed a fundamental theory for the generic mathematical modeling of multiple scattering of optical and acoustical waves interacting with highly-concentrated suspensions and emulsions.
During 2001-2007, he developed a particle size analyzer based on optical spectroscopy, and commercialized a generic simulation software tool connectable to acoustic and optical spectrometers, so as to convert them into particle size analyzers. The patent for this generic technology was granted in 2007.
In 2008, Felix sold all his intellectual property to Agilent Technologies, Inc, and currently is a scientific consultant, and writes Popular Science books on Epistemology and Philosophy of Science in English and Spanish. His first book in Spanish on the Theory of Relativity was published in 2009 by the 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, S.A.' in Valencia (Spain).
Since October 2013, Felix is back to Academia as a Research Professor for the Department of Metallurgical Engineering of the University of Utah. He is also working on the e-series 'Quantum Physics free of Folklore' of which 'Records of the Future' is its first volume published in January 2013.

Félix Alba-Juez Nació en Burgos (España) en 1948. En 1949, sus padres se establecieron en Necochea (Argentina) donde completó su educación primaria y secundaria. En 1966 se trasladó a Bahía Blanca donde se graduó en Ingeniería Eléctrica en la Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS) en 1974. Mientras fue estudiante, se desempeñó como Asistente de Docencia en el Departamento de Matemática de la UNS. Durante los años 1974 hasta 1983, fue Profesor Adjunto, Asociado, y Titular en la Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Argentina.
En 1983, se trasladó a USA donde se desempeñó como 'Post-Doctoral Fellow' y luego 'Research Associate' en el Departamento de Metalurgia de la Universidad de Utah, conduciendo investigación básica en teoría del control óptimo, y asesorando a estudiantes de doctorado en el control óptimo de la molienda de minerales.
En 1987, se estableció como consultor independiente trabajando para entidades como DuPont, ALCOA, Dow Chemical, 'US Department of Transportation', y NASA. Su primera patente fue otorgada en 1992 en USA, Inglaterra, Francia, Alemania y Japón, protegiendo una tecnología de medición de tamaño de partícula basada en espectroscopia de ultrasonido.
Durante 1997-2001, desarrolló una nueva teoría física para modelar genéricamente la reflexión, refracción, difracción, y absorción múltiple de ondas ópticas y ultrasónicas interactuando con suspensiones altamente concentradas.
En el período 2001-2007, desarrolló un analizador de tamaño de partícula basado en espectroscopia óptica, y comercializó una herramienta de simulación genérica para conectar a espectrómetros

Reviews

[BetseaK · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book which delivered me a feel of amazement of how clever I am, instead of that horrible feeling that I have the IQ of a snail!

I read the electronic form of this book, published as an e-Series under the title 'Relativity free of Folkore', consisting of 8 chapters, available on Amazon and @ http://www.felixalbajuez.com/

I recommend this book most highly to all the intelligent lay persons looking for an undistorted comprehension of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aside from various corrections to folklore (myths about the theory of relativity), I’d say that the author has two overall themes to this book: The importance of inertial mass (rest mass) and the inertial frame of reference.

Gravity is generally described and understood as an attractive force; it’s a mutual attraction between energetic bodies. (1) If I understand the author correctly, this is one-half of the story. The other half is that the mass (a measure of energetic content) of a body resists movement from the outside via an attractive force. That resistance is expressed by the principle that if at rest, a body remains at rest; if in motion, it continues in its straight-line motion. (2)

At the macro scale, these two sources of motion - gravity as accelerated movement and inertia as its counter movement - play off against each other creating perpetual movement and transformation in the universe. While locally there may be relative equilibrium (lack of movement), any local body still exists within a larger cosmic background that is in motion and, thus, there is not, and cannot be, a condition of stasis where movement ceases to be.

This, in turn, leads to the author’s second theme throughout this book. With everything in motion relative to the other, there is not and cannot be a single frame of reference, understood as an absolute point in space and time from which everything can be measured. Notions of space and time vary, depending on the position - called the inertial frame of reference - of the observer.

While this - relative notions of space-time - is one of the meanings of relativity, its flip side is that only light is immune from relativistic effects: Its speed remains the same regardless of its source or the movement of the observer. In seeing light this way, it is understood as an Absolute, a universal law of nature; it is the very opposite of relativistic. (3)

The inertia terminology used by the author is confusing. There is inertial mass (versus gravitational mass), and there is inertial frame of reference (versus a non-inertial frame of reference). The connection between these two uses of “inertia” is not clear. The dictionary definition states that inertia means a tendency to stay in one place, so I suppose that in this sense it could apply to the tendency of a gravitational body to stay true to its inertial motion, and to inertial observers who see the world from their own perspective.

These two points about inertial mass and inertial frame of reference prompt a thought: Is the philosophical notion of the dialectic embedded in the workings of the cosmos? There is perpetual movement that comes from, in thesis form, an accelerating “force” (the workings of gravity and space-time curvature). With the author’s comment about inertial mass, there is the counter movement of a body’s resistance to rest or stay in motion, which is the antithesis prong of dialectical interaction. The tension that is implicit in this interaction is then resolved in one of three ways: one prong incorporates the other or escapes its incorporation (via the inertial power of relative mass, distance, velocity; or both prongs reach a “stand-off,” a “mutuality” of sorts). Resolution, the synthesis state, comes in the form of an equilibrium state, which remains so (locally) until a new thesis motion upsets this balanced state of affairs. (4)

If inertial mass resists movement from the outside, and if gravitational mass initiates movement, then pushing (away) and pulling (toward) from a specified frame of reference would seem to be a universal (for gravity, and quantum action/reaction) description of how dialectical interaction works. Yet, for gravity at least, there’s a question. If following geodesic lines is what curves movement of a body toward another, is gravity even necessary as a concept (and might it be just another word for mass)? It could be said that relatively massive bodies explain why space-time curves (forms the geodesic lines), but such massive bodies also could have been formed by matter and energy following the space-time lines thereby, creating massive bodies, per Wheeler’s statement (“Space-time tells matter how to move; matter tells space-time how to curve”).

If gravity is no longer an accelerating source of causation, versus geometric curvature, then dialectical interaction can be reformulated: Now, matter and energy is both thesis (inertial, straight-line motion) and antithesis (inertial resistance to deviation from straight-line path created by spacetime curvature. This is a different way of looking at Einstein's equivalence principle: an object expresses both straight-line movement and resistance to deviating pressures. The same dynamics are the same as before, but in this alternative formulation, the causes of cosmic movement - free, straight-line motion; inertial resistance to external accelerating “forces” - resides more clearly with the object, though clearly, that object resides within a dialectically-infused cosmic context.

1. The view of gravity as a force, was recast by Einstein to say that bodies move in a straight line (is this inertial movement?) unless in the presence of a body with more mass that draws the fabric of space-time toward itself. Thus, following the geodesic lines, a body moves toward the center (the presence of a greater mass), so there is no force (power) per se. There is, rather, a “free fall,” or a “falling toward the center,” following space-time curvature.

2. A body escapes this movement toward the gravitational center not only by its relative mass, but also by its distance (inverse square law, which almost suggests a quantum component to mass - intensity is not continuous, but occurs by units that “jump”) and speed. These - relative mass, distance and velocity (speed) - allow inertial mass to manifest itself. It’s interesting that an increase in velocity also means there’s an increase in mass, prompting the question: What is it about speed that creates more kinetic mass?

3. Though the author does not make the point, it seems to me that movement (and transformation) also falls into this category of an Absolute.

4. Alternatively, maybe reflecting Einstein’s principle of equivalence, inertial, straight-line motion might be seen as a thesis and accelerating, curving-bending motion as the antithesis. Interestingly, the same argument about dialectical interaction can be made at the quantum level, and for life’s teleological (not random) seeking and resisting behavior).