3.6M views · Sep 3, 2020 · 11:33 · 8 HN recommenders · 9 mentions · discussed 2020–2026
ScienceClic explains why the rubber sheet analogy for general relativity is misleading and offers a new visualization that includes the curvature of time and shows gravity as motion through curved spacetime.
Why Hacker News points people here: Called the best visualization of general relativity by many commenters, who say it cleared up long-held misunderstandings of gravity.
“hands down the best visualization of general relativity I've seen.”HN comment, 2022
“This video really cleared up a lot of misunderstandings for me”
Clears up misunderstandings of gravity via spacetime visualization
This video really cleared up a lot of misunderstandings for me: this video I had never visualized it this way in my head before, and it all makes a lot more sense now. Highly recommend!
“An absolute gem I've stumbled across is ScienceClic”
Amazing relativity presentations from ScienceClic
Science Asylum is great, but I dislike the 90s educational show presentation format. An absolute gem I've stumbled across is ScienceClic: link They have amazing presentations on Relativity, my favorite being: "A new way to visualize General Relativity" - this video "Hawking Radiation" - link Another, while heavier and less accessible channel is Physics Explained: link These are closer like lectures, but I enjoy them because they go into the histories of some of these experiments; and what the prevailing wisdom was around the time the experiments were performed: "What is the Ultraviolet Catastrophe?" - link
“Here's the video that made me finally understand it”
Made the commenter finally understand gravity as inertial motion
But under this point of view there's no force at all. Gravity doesn't exert a force on you, the movement under gravity is purely inertial. I know this is bonkers. Here's the video that made me finally understand it this video ( link is another good video from the same author)
“hands down the best visualization of general relativity I've seen.”
Best visualization of GR
scienceclic also comes in an english edition. hands down the best visualization of general relativity I've seen. this video
“Another good video to visualize GR is this by ScienceClic”
Good visualization of GR
That's linked at the bottom of the article. Another good video to visualize GR is this by ScienceClic: this video
“Here’s a different visualisation that starts with what’s wrong with the rubber sheet”
Visualization starting from what is wrong with rubber sheet
The rubber sheet analogy is criticised for this exact reason. Here’s a different visualisation that starts with what’s wrong with the rubber sheet: this video
“A great example (to me) is this [1] for example.”
Example of video making an idea clear
Sure, no doubt, a video can sometimes make things much clearer. A great example (to me) is this [1] for example. I had understood from the old illustrations that I was supposed to imagine something like that, but video makes it incredibly clear. The actual net impact of screens in classrooms, however, appears to me to be extremely negative, and I think learning outcomes bear that out. [1] this video
“probably the best and most innovative one I've seen.”
Probably the best and most innovative spacetime visualization
Very nice, fairly efficient too. I don't like the explicit split of Newtonian and relativistic gravity, this is often how it's presented in educational content, but it creates too much confusion; for instance it gives the illusion that they are somehow separate theories even though Newtonian gravity is a limiting case of Einsteinian gravity when v << c and gravitational fields are weak (see Poissons eq for Newtons gravitational potential. Lastly, you should consider rendering spacetime similar to Alessandro Roussels spacetime visualization this video ; probably the best and most innovative one I've seen.
“A new way to visualize General Relativity”
Video visualizing GR
A new way to visualize General Relativity this video This uses Adobe tools to visualize and take advantage of video format.
