The truth is in the details

This week the school magazine of my children is published.

Usually they always request a written piece from the parents. I had written one before.

This time they did not ask me for any written piece but I felt like writing one about Einstein and the theory of relativity.

Sometimes it is not easy to talk about certain topics with young children, but I find that if you manage to get them to understand, to be aware of some new knowledge, you open a little door in their brain that will help them when thinking about other things.

I always think that new knowledge, that is, giving them different visions, allows them to grow intellectually, allows them to think differently when faced with problems… even if only indirectly.

This piece is about Einstein and one of the reflections that his theory of relativity provokes.

It is curious and fun.

Here begins the article:

"Before we begin, to understand this piece, we need to know what a galaxy is.

Do you know?

A galaxy is a group of stars (like the sun) that travel together. This group of stars usually orbits around the center of the galaxy, in the same way that the earth orbits around the sun. The solar system is in a galaxy called the Milky Way.

Sometimes things are not as they seem. Like the earth, which without photos from space or scientists who have researched it, we might still believe is flat, since it appears so. But just because something appears one way does not mean that it is so.

Let’s go to the question of this piece…

Now, while you are reading this piece, are you still?

At what speed do you think you are moving? 0 km/h? 1 km/h? What do you think?

Einstein’s theory says that you can never know how fast you are moving unless you compare it to something else. While you are reading this piece, you are still if you compare yourself to your walls, your table, your windows. But what happens if we look from space — if we really are still?

The earth rotates on its axis at a speed of 1,700 km/h. Wow…

But the earth also orbits the sun, right? That is why, every time it completes an orbit around the sun, we say that one year has passed. And at what speed does the earth orbit the sun?

107,000 km/h!!!!!

Surely, we are no longer so sure that we are really still…

But there is more…

Is the sun still? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The sun moves, it orbits our galaxy, the Milky Way. And of course, if the sun moves, since we are “attached to it”, we also move. At what speed does the sun orbit the center of the Milky Way?

792,000 km/h !!!!!!

Well, that must be it, right? Surely nothing else moves…

But no… the Milky Way also moves. The Milky Way is “bound” to other galaxies that travel together through space. This group of galaxies is called the Local Group. It is believed that there are about 30 galaxies. The Milky Way orbits this local group at a speed of:

468,000 km/h!!!!!!!!

That must be it, right?......

But not yet. This Local Group of galaxies is moving toward a place called the Virgo Cluster or the Cluster of the Virgin.

It is believed that the local group is moving toward this cluster at a speed of:

2,160,000 km/h!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, that must be it, right?

But no… scientists know that there are other factors that attract the Virgo Cluster, and this one too must be moving, “sucked in” by something bigger… there are different theories but they still don’t know for sure… for now, what attracts the Virgo Cluster is called the Great Attractor… but they still need to investigate more to explain it.

Therefore, no one really knows at what speed we are moving, nor can the best scientist in the world answer this question.

The coolest part of all this is thinking that the earth is a spaceship and we are inside it. We are on a journey through space at speeds greater than most of the ships in the Star Wars saga!!!!!

Things are never as they seem.

We are still if we compare ourselves to our table or chair but we are moving at incredible speeds when seen from space.

If we believe that things are as we have been told or as they appear, we set limits… if we scratch further, if we are curious, we will always see that things are different from what we thought.

Reality is super complex."

This was my piece.........