A Guide To Black Holes and GPS Relativity

Habib Sajid
3/18/2012 SPH 4U0

Hewlett-Packard

Table of Contents
Black Holes ............................................................................................................................ 2 GPS and Relativity ................................................................................................................. 2 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 3

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Black Holes
A black hole is a collapsed star that has gravity so high that even light cannot escape it. For example if you were to compress the earth down to the size of a peanut you would have a black hole. Black holes have 3 main parts the outer event horizon, the inner event horizon and the singularity. Black holes gravity is so strong that not only does it warp the space and light around it, it also changes the way time floes.

GPS and Relativity

A GPS or Global Positioning System is a navigational tool used by millions of people today. GPSs are used by many people for many different jobs like construction, farming or even just to get you from point A to point B. A GPS uses satellites orbiting around the earth to pinpoint where you are on the earth in three dimensions. The satellites use distance and time to measure here you are relative to earth. There are over 30 satellites orbiting at 20 000 kilometers away from the earth at 14 000 km/h. there are at least 4 satellites visible from any point of the earth at any given time. To keep the accuracy needed for it to be useful there is an atomic clock in every satellite. The GPS must take into account some subtle changes caused by certain effects such as the theory of relativity. We can say that the effects of special and general relativity cause the clocks on the satellites to run 38 microseconds faster everyday

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Bibliogrphy
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html

http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Perimeter_Inspirations/GPS_%26_Relativity/GPS_%26_Relativity/

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pAnRKD4raY

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