Daily Dialogue — September 23, 2013

Arthur Eddington: Pick up the tablecloth.

Winnie and Frank hold up the tablecloth.

Arthur Eddington: Space. The tablecloth is space…

Holds up a round loaf of bread.

Arthur Eddington: The sun.

Drops it in the middle of the stretched tablecloth.

Arthur Eddington: What’s happening?
Winnie Eddington: What?
Arthur Eddington: What’s happening with the sun in space?
Winnie Eddington: Well, the bread is sinking into the tablecloth.
Frank Dyson: The sun makes a shape around it in space.
Arthur Eddington: Yes. Now, what happens if I do this?

Tosses an apple into the tablecloth; apple makes an oval around the bread.

Arthur Eddington: It wants to travel in a straight line, but it can’t. Why not?
Winnie Eddington: Because the bread is making a shape.
Frank Dyson: The apple follows the curves made in space.
Arthur Eddington: Yes. Yes, space is shaped. And that is how gravity works. Space tells objects how to move. Objects tell space what shape to be. And there’s a way to prove it.

— Einstein and Eddington (2008), written by Peter Moffat

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is science, suggested by plinytheelder_t.

Trivia: A surprising Albert Einstein fact is that he disliked science fiction. You would have thought science fiction would have inspired him to form new associations and ponder new possibilities, but in reality, he avoided any association with it and encouraged others to do the same.

Dialogue On Dialogue: I was horrible at science in school, but grew to become fascinated in it in adult life, so moments like this, where movie characters use visuals to explain concepts I find especially delightful. Plus there’s this: They remind us that movies are primarily a visual medium!

In honor of our scientific brothers and sisters, and a special nod to Dr. Who, here is a ten hour loop of the word “physics”: