physics

The Science of Interstellar

The Science of Interstellar is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Science of Interstellar rather than just read about it. In short: The Science of Interstellar is a non-fiction book by American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne, with a foreword by Christopher Nolan. The book was initially published on November 7, 2014 by W.

Key takeaways

The Science of Interstellar belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Science of Interstellar to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Science of Interstellar from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Science of Interstellar is a non-fiction book by American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne, with a foreword by Christopher Nolan. The book was initially published on November 7, 2014 by W. W. Norton & Company. This is his second full-size book for non-scientists after Black Holes and Time Warps, released in 1994. The Science of Interstellar is a follow-up text for Nolan's 2014 film Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain.

Overview Kip Thorne was the scientific consultant and an executive producer for the movie. In this book he explains the scientific concepts behind the film's cosmological ideas. The book is composed of seven parts with a foreword by Christopher Nolan and one additional chapter discussing the inception of Interstellar. Thorne starts by laying out introductory information about the universe, spacetime, physical laws, relativity, tidal forces, and black holes. The next section covers the supermassive black hole Gargantua, explaining its appearance and how it was created via CGI, as well as gravitational slingshots and a scientifically inaccurate statement by a character in the film. Thorne then shifts to Earth, discussing the crop-destroying blight, development of interstellar travel technologies, and another scientifically inaccurate statement in the film. The next part discusses the wormhole, explaining the basics of how wormholes work, how Interstellar's wormhole was rendered via CGI, and a method by which the wormhole could have been discovered in Interstellar's universe via the detection of gravitational waves. Thorne then explores the development of planets orbiting a supermassive black hole and how the planets depicted in the film could form in real life. The next section discusses some of the more advanced and extreme physics depicted in the film, including large extra dimensions, warping the gravitational constant, and the different types of singularities inside a black hole, including the BKL, mass-inflation, and shock singularities. The final part discusses the climax of the film, including Cooper's plunge into the black hole Gargantua, the tesseract scene and four-dimensional space, and getting colonies of people off of the Earth.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Science of Interstellar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Science of Interstellar claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Science of Interstellar before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Science of Interstellar ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Science of Interstellar

In research: The Science of Interstellar appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Science of Interstellar in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Science of Interstellar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 English-language non-fiction books, 2014 non-fiction books, American non-fiction books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Science of Interstellar outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “The Science of Interstellar” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study The Science of Interstellar in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Science of Interstellar means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Science of Interstellar out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Science of Interstellar in simple terms?

Why does The Science of Interstellar matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Science of Interstellar?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Science of Interstellar.