What connection could there possibly be between scientist, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and passenger airplanes? Well, hold on to your seats because if you just read a bit further, here it comes, whether you are ready or not.
Recently, researchers have been utilizing Einstein’s theory of relativity to discover the most efficient method for passengers to board an airplane. As one newspaper, The Sun, recently reported, these scientists have concluded that the old-fashioned, time honored method of boarding planes by seat numbers is now considered to be old hat, yesterday’s beans, passé and in general, a waste of time.
One scientist, Dr. Eitan Bachmat of Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, claims that the low-cost carriers, who permit passengers to sit wherever they choose, have the right idea, and that airlines would run more efficiently if they followed their example. “Back to back boarding,” he claims, is “bad because it is designed either for slim passengers or for the more spacious first class compartment. But there’s no need to play with the rows. It doesn’t matter which row is boarded first.”
Dr. Bachmat says that he discovered this fact completely by accident, kind of like Dr. Fleming found penicillin. He was researching how to make computers run more efficiently when he found Einstein’s theory staring back at him straight in the face. “It suddenly dawned on me,” he said, “that we could use the same geometry that appears in the relativity theory to apply to this situation.”
But is everything relative? Shouldn’t consumers have the right to buy more comfortable seats on an airplane if they want to? How do you think old Albert would feel about this new development if he were alive today?
What do YOU think about this?