Sorry for the lack of styling. Too long for an image. This is just a chat about gravity and science.
Dad: I have no clue, but people should never ignore science
Distinguished Scientist: Are you a good father?
Dad: I would hope so
Distinguished Scientist: Are you familiar with gravity?
Dad: yes, I would hope everyone is
Distinguished Scientist: What about the equations that describe gravity?
Dad: not quite
Distinguished Scientist: Ah, it's quite simple
Distinguished Scientist: If you would like to know
Dad: yes
Distinguished Scientist: You see, there's a gravitational constant which we call G
Distinguished Scientist: To find the gravitational force acting between two bodies of mass in space...
Distinguished Scientist: You multiply G * mass 1 * mass 2, and divide that by the distance between the masses squared
Distinguished Scientist: The equation is very elegant in its simplicity
Distinguished Scientist: It describes the motion of planets fairly accurately
Dad: That's pretty neat
Distinguished Scientist: The force acting on each planet is the same, hence the one equation which describes the force on both
Distinguished Scientist: In my research I write programs which apply this equation to display the motion of objects due to gravity
Distinguished Scientist: It allows me to simulate black holes, which can be modeled by very high mass, singularity points
Dad: (At this point I can't tell if your serious or really invested in your rp..)
Dad: (but this is really cool, keep going)
Distinguished Scientist: Ah yes
Distinguished Scientist: Of course, there are more complex equations which I apply. Einstein's relativity, for instance
Distinguished Scientist: Einstein's relativity is considered the best description we have of the universe today
Distinguished Scientist: It accounts for some of the drawbacks of Newton's laws
Distinguished Scientist: The equation I described earlier was by Newton
Distinguished Scientist: A French scientist pointed out in the 1800's that Newton's law failed to accurately predict the motion of Mercury
Distinguished Scientist: Einstein accounted for this in relativity in a neat way
Distinguished Scientist: You see, the rate of time is not constant everywhere in the universe
Distinguished Scientist: In areas with high gravitational pull, near the sun for instance, time passes faster than here on Earth where we have lower gravitation
Distinguished Scientist: If someone were to travel to a point in space with very little gravitational pull compared to here on Earth, they could look down at Earth and see everything moving in fast-motion
Distinguished Scientist: The way they experience time locally does not change, however
Distinguished Scientist: This effect of gravity on time is no myth, as some might believe. In fact, the atomic clocks on satellites account for this time dilation.
Distinguished Scientist: Have you heard about time dilation before?
Dad: No but I have heard that many stars we see are probably dead because the time it takes for light to travel
Dad: but continue
Distinguished Scientist: Do you have any good dad jokes before I continue?
Dad: Not at the moment I'm currently overwhelmingly smitten by the fact that I haven't covered this topic yet
Dad: sorry
Distinguished Scientist: That alright!
Distinguished Scientist: I'm thinking about what other areas of science that might interest you
Dad: Welp you can pick whatever, I'm not very old or experienced so..
Dad: But can I ask if you are a legitimate scientist or pretending?
Distinguished Scientist: I'm a college student studying mechanical engineering but my true passion is physics haha
Dad: That's really cool!
Dad: I'm not quite college level myself so please do continue
Distinguished Scientist: Let's talk about plasma
Distinguished Scientist: Plasma is the 4th state of matter, after solid, liquid, and gas
Distinguished Scientist: If you heat a liquid, you have gas. If you heat a gas to a very high temperature, you have plasma
Distinguished Scientist: Consider heating air to this critical temperature between gas and plasma
Distinguished Scientist: At this critical temperature, the electrons in the air particles enter high energy states and the air particles "ionize"
Distinguished Scientist: When air particles ionize, they release photons, or light
Distinguished Scientist: There has been research in recent years which has applied high power, concentrated lasers to ionize air particles at specific points in space
Distinguished Scientist: This allows for the creation of 3D displays in mid air, similar to holograms in movies
Distinguished Scientist: The ionized air particles can even be touched harmlessly. The researchers reported a slight "tingly" feeling when the plasma is touched.
Distinguished Scientist: Imagine a floating touch screen surrounding you. I find this research interesting and I hope to re-create it myself someday.
Dad: Yeah man, that would be hella cool!
Distinguished Scientist: I'd like to link you to the paper
Dad: Sure
Distinguished Scientist: I couldn't find the research paper but this is an article on it:
https://www.engadget.com/2015/07/03/floating-plasma-display-femtosecond-laser/Dad: Sounds good
Dad: what made you decide to come on here and start a science lecture, mind my asking
Distinguished Scientist: I'm passionate about science
Distinguished Scientist: It seems not enough people know about these interesting topics
Dad: True
Distinguished Scientist: This summer I will work as an assistant in a plasma lab at my university
Distinguished Scientist: I might propose this project to the professor
Dad: Do it man,
Dad: that would be great
Distinguished Scientist: Femtosecond lasers do not come cheaply, but we will see
Dad: they don't sound cheap, good luck on that one
Distinguished Scientist: I really did write a program that simulates planet motion though haha
Dad: That's impressive
Distinguished Scientist: I'd like to include einstein's time dilation concept in the program
Dad: Sounds like quite the task to cover
Distinguished Scientist: I once saw an equation which related the rate of passage of time to the magnitude of gravity at any point in space
Distinguished Scientist: The rate of passage of time is dependent on only two things
Distinguished Scientist: 1. The magnitude of gravity, and 2. The velocity you are moving at
Distinguished Scientist: You experience time slower if you are 1. in low gravity and 2. if you are at high velocity
Distinguished Scientist: I could calculate how many more years I could "add" to my life by leaving Earth's gravity and traveling space at high velocities relative to Earth
Distinguished Scientist: I could come back to Earth after experiencing space for 1 year, and find that time on Earth passed by thousands of years
Distinguished Scientist: I should go study for finals
Dad: Probably, I should got to sleep but that doesn't mean I will
Dad: but good luck
Distinguished Scientist: thanks, bye
