Post created by: Isabelle
Interstellar is a sci-fi movie directed by Christopher Nelson and produced by physicist Kip Thorne. The earth is in turmoil and the main character Cooper is sent with a team of scientists to investigate planets that are allegedly habitable. Shown in the movie are wormholes, black holes, and the malleability of time and space.
One of the major events in the movie is when the team plans to survey Miller's planet. For context, the habitable planets orbit a super-massive black hole named Gargantua, a fitting name. Another team member named Romilly is left on the base while Cooper and the rest of the scientists are sent to survey the planet. Due to the vastness of the black hole, time is warped in such a way that an hour spent on Miller's planet equals about seven years back on the base. When Cooper and the team return back to the Endurance base, Romilly has spent twenty-three years in isolation.
An idea that I struggled with throughout the film is how time and space is bent by a heavenly body such as a black hole. I looked online for an explanation and stumbled upon this article from the University Press: "The reason this happens is because gravity is simply time and space curving from the the mass of an object. Imagine a bowling ball (Earth) on a mattress (space), the indent from the mass of the bowling ball on the mattress is the same idea as the curve of space because of the Earth’s mass. This curvature doesn’t just warp space though, it warps time" (Fraieli). It's pretty amazing to think that a heavy object can enact so much influence on time and space; it's almost mind-boggling to think about. Is physics set to the side when it comes to matters like these, or does it still apply in an unconventional way? Having been exposed to only the basics of physics, I'm excited to see how gravity can be affected.
Comentarios