What is the theory of relativity?

Answer 1

Simply put: It's all relative.

Kinda like how we're all related (i.e., share a common ancestor).

Answer 2

Are you wanting the General Theory of Relativity or the Special Theory of Relativity?

Answer 3

Which theory: special relativity or general relativity? They are two distinct yet related theories. This forum is too small to answer completely. Google or yahoo! for einstein and relativity and you should get some great results.
Special relativity deals with the only absolute being space-time, as both space and time individually ar not absolute. The famous equation E=mc^2 is a result of this. c means the constant value of the speed of light in a vacuum. Here's the problem....
Imagine going along in a moving car at say 50mph. Now, throw a ball from back seat to front seat at 5 mph. Now to you inside the frame of reference being the car, the ball is moving away at 5mph. No problem there. To someone standing onthe3 side of the road, the ball goes by them at 55 mph ( 50mph speed of car added to 5mph speed of thrown ball.) Again, no problem. And, BOTH these measurements are completely correct. It is just relative to the observer and their frame of reference. Now, imagine turning on a flashlight. A photon of the light will go away from you at c or the speed of light. You would measure it that way. To that same oberserver you are driving by it will also be c or the speed of light, not the c plus the car's speed. And, both measurements would be completely correct. So, if the equation for speed is s=d/t (or speed equals distance divided by time), and the speed in this case (of light) is a constant--which it is--, then the variables must be distance and time. When moving at or very close to the speed of light, time and distance are relatvie to the observer in motion. The only absolute immutable frame of reference is space-time.
general relatvity was einstein's way of incorporating gravity into his theory. The effect of gravity is the same as the effect of accelerated motion. Bearing in mind the true deifinition of acceleration being a change in velocity.

Answer 4

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories: special relativity and general relativity.

Special:
Albert Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" introduced the special theory of relativity. Special relativity considers that observers in inertial reference frames, which are in uniform motion relative to one another, cannot perform any experiment to determine which one of them is "stationary". This is known as the principle of relativity. While this principle was not new to Albert Einstein's work, he found that including electromagnetism in this principle required a new formalism with many surprising consequences. In particular, it required the speed of light in a vacuum to be the same for all these observers, regardless of their motion or the motion of the source of the light.

One of the strengths of special relativity is that it can be derived from only two premises:

The laws of physics are the same in any inertial frame of reference. This means that the laws of physics observed by a hypothetical observer traveling with a relativistic particle must be the same as those observed by an observer who is stationary in the laboratory.
The speed of light in a vacuum is constant (specifically, 299,792,458 meters per second).

General:
General relativity was developed by Einstein in the years 1911 - 1915. General relativity is a geometrical theory which postulates that the presence of matter "curves" spacetime, and this curvature affects the path of free particles (and even the path of light). It uses the mathematics of differential geometry and tensors in order to describe gravitation without the use of the force of gravity. This theory considers all observers to be equivalent, not only those moving with uniform speed.

Answer 5

everything is relative, meaning it depends of the perspective of someone upon something else ....what you see may not be what you get....twilight zone kind of thing, say for example, if a rocket could get to the speed of light and someone travels in it, the person that says on earth suffers thru the effects of time on earth (hi/her relativity)but the person traveling has her/his own time (and since time is all messed up because of the speed of light)then he/she will stay young, while the other in earth is older...there's plenty of modern theories nowadays that are way ahead of einsteins...by the way is just thery not reality...i recomend watch nova on pbs it tels you all about new theories

Answer 6

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity states that there is only one constant in the universe, that being light and time and space must wrap, conform, themselves around light. Time and space are "relative" only light remains a universal constant.

Answer 7

Vacuum...The Earth operates in space by Hydro-magnetic energy in a vacuum relativity and the moon has a gravitational pull on the earth. ( metal core) it's a magnetic North thing!..

Answer 8

Go to a search engine like google and look up Albert Einstein.

Answer 9

Placing your hand on a burner for a few seconds feels like an eternity as you suffer........... sitting next to a pretty girl for one hour feels like only a minute

Answer 10

Roughly speaking, the faster something goes (Approaching the speed of light), the shorter it seems in its own frame of reference (FoR) and the slower time seems to pass in its FoR.