Here's a very interesting program that's designed to illustrate the concept of "special relativity" on your PC. Specifically, you'll see how the speed of light affects various objects found on Earth, such as a simple teapot or even Stonehenge. Warp presents great 3D graphics, complete with a control panel for directing the object through space and adjusting the speed. Warp showcases effects in real time, and though it's not a rigid simulation, it's certainly cool to play around with. Experience

Warp is mind candy for scientists or anyone else fascinated by this phenomenon. The program touches on the concepts of the Lorentz contraction and optical aberration. It demonstrates how an object appears to become unusually "squashed" in the direction of motion. As you'll witness, light from points on an object that are further away take longer to reach the viewer. The object appears warped because the light rays started their journey at different times. The program also demonstrates the Doppler effect, particularly how it affects the colors of an object. As it approaches the speed of light, the Doppler effect extends conventional red/blue shift into the infrared and ultraviolet ranges, so it becomes invisible to the naked eye.

Warp is free software, courtesy of Adam Auton. Click to the author's Web page to learn more about special relativity. You can also download additional objects including the Star Wars X-Wing, Eiffel Tower and Santa Claus! Note that the software requires the latest OpenGL drivers.

Platforms: Win95 , Win98 , WinME , Windows2000 , WinXP

System requirements: Not specified