From Light Beams to Open Questions: teacher key

Albert Einstein, grade 12 edition, written for 12th grade and up. The ideas of special and general relativity, the tests that have confirmed them, and the questions Einstein left open in his later years.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What was Einstein looking for in his later years?
   • A new compass
   • A unified field theory, one set of ideas to join the laws of physics (answer)
   • A job as a teacher
2. What did Einstein feel about Heisenberg's new way of treating the mechanics of the atom?
   • That it was perfect
   • That it was a patent
   • That the theory stood on a weak foundation (answer)
3. What did Hubble discover that Einstein's theory explains as the fabric of space expanding?
   • That light has no speed
   • That galaxies are moving away from one another (answer)
   • That clocks stop in orbit
4. What was measured as a gravitational wave passed Earth?
   • A change as large as a skyscraper
   • A change thousands of times smaller than an atomic nucleus (answer)
   • No change at all
5. Why did GPS engineers correct for relativity?
   • To get accurate time on Earth (answer)
   • To make satellites heavier
   • To photograph galaxies

Words

• unified: joined together