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Einstein's Big Idea

Classroom Activities

Learning Objective | Materials | Background | Procedure | Activity Answer | Links & Books | Standards  Print this Teacher's Guide (PDF, 37 pages)

Activity Summary
Students create a time line of scientists involved with E = mc².

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:

• identify key scientists who contributed to the concepts in and confirmation of E = mc².

• describe experiments that led to an understanding of energy, mass, the speed of light squared, and the equivalence of mass and energy.

• relate challenges scientists have faced as they pursued their research.

• place in sequential order discoveries of the past two centuries.

• copy of the "The Building of Ideas" student handout (PDF or HTML)
• four 4 x 6 file cards
• small binder clip
• tape

Background
For centuries prior to Albert Einstein's development of E = mc², men and women the world over dedicated their lives to understanding the concepts that underlie each part of the equation. Their investigations into the nature of energy, mass, light, and velocity provided Einstein with the foundation he needed to draw his astonishing conclusions about the equivalence of mass and energy. Scientists have confirmed Einstein's equation countless times since its creation and continue researching its implications today.

In this activity, students will learn more about the lives and work of some of the men and women involved with E = mc².

1. Organize students into six teams to take notes on one of the following categories: energy, mass, light, velocity (speed of light squared), the development of the equation, and the confirmation of the equation. Within their category, students should take notes on the following: name of scientist(s), nationality, concept, experiment, time period, and challenges faced.

2. Distribute the materials and watch the two-hour program with students. After students watch, have them record their assigned category and a summary of the information noted above on the file cards.

3. Place a 3-meter string across a classroom wall. Create a time line ranging from 1700 to 1950. Have a representative from each team clip the team's time-line cards to the appropriate place on the string.

4. Discuss the people in the program who contributed to the equation. Encourage students to see how the equation was an outcome of the work of many scientists. Have students elaborate how each scientist approached his or her concept. What did the scientists do or see that allowed them to make their breakthroughs in thinking?

5. As an extension, have each student adopt the identity of a scientist, research his or her work, and create a class presentation to illustrate the scientific breakthrough or contribution the scientist made.

Energy

Scientist: Michael Faraday

Nationality: English

Concept: Invisible lines of force flow around electricity and magnets; electricity and magnetism are linked.

Experiment: Faraday placed a magnet beside a copper wire suspended in mercury and passed an electric current through the wire. The wire spun in a circle around the magnet, thus demonstrating the interaction of lines of electric and magnetic force.

Time Period: Early 1800s

Challenges Faced: Accused of plagiarism by Sir Humphry Davy; refuted claim and was later elected to the Royal Society.

Mass

Scientists: Antoine-Laurent and Marie Anne Lavoisier

Nationality: French

Concept: Matter is always conserved in a chemical reaction regardless of how it is transformed.

Experiment: Lavoisier transformed a number of different substances. He carefully measured all the products of the reactions to show that matter is conserved.

Time Period: Late 1700s

Challenges Faced: The French Revolution; Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was captured and executed by guillotine.

Light

Scientists: Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell

Nationality: English (Faraday) and Scottish (Maxwell)

Concept: Electromagnetism can be described mathematically; Maxwell's equations supported Faraday's long-held claim that light was just one form of electromagnetism.

Experiment: Maxwell's ideas were theoretical.

Time Period: Mid-1800s

Challenges Faced: Scientists did not agree with Faraday's belief that light was an electromagnetic wave.

Velocity (Speed of Light Squared)

Scientists: Gottfried von Leibniz and Emilie du Châtelet

Nationality: German (Leibniz) and French (du Châtelet)

Concept: The energy of an object is a function of the square of its speed.

Experiment: Du Châtelet analyzed experiments in which brass balls were dropped into clay; measuring their impacts demonstrated that an object's energy is a function of its velocity squared. She clarified Leibniz's original ideas about velocity.

Time Period: Early to mid-1700s

Challenges Faced: Scientists discounted Leibniz's ideas; du Châtelet died during childbirth when she was 43.

Development of E = mc²

Scientists: Albert Einstein

Nationality: German, Swiss, and American

Concept: Mass and energy are the same and can be converted one to the other using the speed of light squared.

Experiment: Einstein's ideas were theoretical.

Time Period: Early 1900s

Challenges Faced: At first no one responded to Einstein's ideas; he patiently answered letters for four years. His genius began to be recognized when his work gained the endorsement of German physicist Max Planck.

Confirmation of E = mc²

Scientist: Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann, Lise Meitner, and Otto Robert Frisch

Nationality: German (Hahn, Strassmann) and Austrian (Meitner, Frisch)

Concept: The confirmation of E = mc².

Experiment: Hahn and Strassmann bombarded uranium with neutrons and discovered barium in the resulting products; Meitner and Frisch realized the results indicated that Hahn and Strassmann had split the uranium nucleus.

Time Period: Mid-1900s

Challenges Faced: Because she was Jewish, Meitner was forced to flee Germany and compelled to collaborate by mail with Hahn and Strassmann; Hahn never acknowledged Meitner's work.

Web Sites

NOVA—Einstein's Big Idea
www.pbs.org/nova/einstein
Hear top physicists explain E = mc², discover the legacy of the equation, see how much energy matter contains, learn how today's physicists are working with the equation, read quotes from Einstein, and more on this companion Web site.

American Institute of Physics Historical Information
www.aip.org/history/exhibits.html
Detailed online exhibits of Einstein and other famous physicists, plus a history of the discovery of fission.

Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics
cwp.library.ucla.edu
Profiles pioneering women in physics.

Books

Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
by Ruth Lewin Sime. University of California Press, 1997.
Investigates Meitner's life and work, including her vital role in the discovery of nuclear fission.

The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell
by Basil Mahon. John Wiley & Son, 2003.
Relates the story of the Scotsman whose brilliant mathematics helped to define the nature of light.

Michael Faraday and the Discovery of Electromagnetism
by Susan Zannos. Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2004.
Profiles Faraday and explains, in simple terms, his concept of electromagnetism.

Science: 100 Scientists Who Changed the World
by Jon Balchin. Enchanted Lion Books, 2003.
Provides two-page profiles of 100 scientists from around the world from ancient times to the present-day, including Lavoisier, Faraday, Maxwell, and Einstein.

"The Building of Ideas" activity aligns with the following National Science Education Standards (see books.nap.edu/html/nses).

Grades 5-8
Science Standard
History and Nature of Science

• Science as a human endeavor
• Nature of science
• History of science

Grades 9-12
Science Standard
History and Nature of Science

• Science as a human endeavor
• Nature of scientific knowledge
• Historical perspectives

Classroom Activity Author

Jeff Lockwood taught high school astronomy, physics, and Earth science for 28 years. He has authored numerous curriculum projects and has provided instruction on curriculum development and science teaching methods for more than a decade.