Gravitational light deflection was one of the early tests of the general theory of relativity and has by now attained a huge importance in astronomy. When teaching this topic in school, however, one is faced with the problem that the theoretical description of light paths as geodesics relies on advanced mathematics. In this contribution we describe a method that allows students to determine the geodesics for a given metric by means of a graphic construction.
Content:
Published in Astronomie und Raumfahrt Nr. 3/4 2016 (in German)
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Teaching gravitational light deflection: A short path from the metric to the geodesic (2.5 MB).
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