Sunil Masand

CS 312

Professor Wolf

The Real Scientific Hero of 1953

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Theoretical Physics, in Video: A Thrill Ride to 'the Other Side of Infinity'

Since their beginning over 50 years ago, computer simulations have been used to solve many complex problems. From everything to what the environmental state of our planet will be in the future to a fictional working of the avian virus in a nation the size of ours has been run through supercomputers to produce computer simulations. With so many somewhat real scenarios being run through supercomputers I was surprised to see an article about a computer simulation that could turn out to be completely fake.

The article I found is entitled “Theoretical Physics, in Video: A Thrill Ride to the Other Side of Infinity” written by Kirk Johnson on February 28, 2006. It is about the latest and greatest simulation to date of a black hole and most notably about the inner workings of a black hole. According to the article, the problem posed by black holes is that since all matter – including light – is sucked into it to a point of singularity there is no way right now of really knowing what would the insides of a black hole look like. Up until this point most of what we know about black holes is by looking at the reactions of objections around black holes.

With the use of this simulation Andrew J.S. Hamilton, professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado, is able to build an impressive video presentation of what it would look like if we were sucked inside of black hole. The computation of the equations used for the simulation produced a result that looks very much like a waterfall with the falling of water being replaced with the falling of space. The author continues his description by writing that as also much like how the falling of water hitting the water that bounces back up creates a maelstrom in a waterfall the same effect occurs in a black hole.

While the results of this simulation no doubt mean much in the world of science, what is equally impressive is the nature of the simulation. The simulation of a world we can see is one thing, we’ve seen the real version of this world so long that it would be difficult for this simulation to produce anything visually that we’ve never seen before. The simulation of a black hole is quite another matter because it gives a visual of an experience that is impossible for us to fully experience.

Citations

1. Johnson, Kirk. " Theoretical Physics, in Video: A Thrill Ride to 'The Other

Side of Infinity'" NYTimes.com. 2002. 31 March. 2006

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/science/28prof.html?ex=1298782800&en=0165e47657627d11&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss >.