Does anyone know what the theory of relativity is?

Question

I DONT KNOW. EINSTIEN WAS TOO SMART!

Answer 1

To answer your question literally - Yes! I'm quite sure
someone knows what the theory of relativity is.

Answer 2

Experiments refuting the aether theory proved that the speed of light is a constant. Through use of Maxwell's equations, Einstein arrived at the conclusion that the speed of light is a constant no matter who observes it or what their state of motion is.
Try this....
Imagine a baseball pitcher and catcher in the trailer of a semi-truck. The truck is going along the highway at 50 mph. The pitcher throws the ball towards the front of the truck to the catcher at 50 mph. Now, the truck frame of reference observers i.e. the pitcher and catcher, would observe the ball traveled at 50 mph. The side of the road frame of reference observer would say the speed of the ball was 100mph or the speed of the pitch and the truck combined. Simple so far.
Now, remove the baseball and give the pitcher a flashlight. The light is turned on. The truck frame of reference would measure a photon as moving at the speed of light. The side of the road frame of reference would also measure a photon at the speed of light. To someone going by in the other direction, THEY would measure it at the speed of light. What gives?
Well, if we think of the simple equation speed=distance/time and the speed in this instance is a constant, then the two non absolute variables must be time and distance (or space). This is an oversimplified version of the special theory. The only absolute frame of reference is spacetime. Both space and time change relative to the observer's location in a gravity well, state of motion and frame of reference.
The General theory was Einstein's incorporation of the wimp of the universal forces: gravity into his theory. Up to this point commonly held belief of the Newtonian mindset held sway: gravity acted instantaneously. Einstein knew nothing could travel faster than the speed of light. These two mindsets didn't mesh. Massive bodies warped or curved spacetime causing the motion of bodies in that spacetime to be affected. The earth orbits the Sun in a straight line through curved spacetime. Again this is an oversimplified explanation of the general theory.

Answer 3

Generally, Einstien's Theory of Relativity can be simplified to read: e=mc2

What it means: e=energy m=mass c2=the speed of light squared

Answer 4

It is a good way to spend a year (or a life) studying. It is also the simplest way to make a relatively consistent space-time theory with a constant speed of light. If you can make a more accurate and consistent theory, you would be a second Einstein!

Answer 5

Theory of relativity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Relativity" redirects here. For other uses, see Relativity (disambiguation).

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Relativity: The Special and General Theory

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories: special relativity and general relativity. As a field of study, relativity also includes metric theories of gravitation in which special relativity applies locally.

The term "relativity" was coined by Max Planck in 1908 to emphasize how special relativity (which at that time was the only relativity theory) uses the principle of relativity.Contents [hide]
1 Special relativity
2 General relativity
3 See also
4 References
5 External links


[edit]

Special relativity
Main article: Special relativity

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).
[edit]

General relativity
Main article: General relativity

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 6

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories: special relativity and general relativity. As a field of study, relativity also includes metric theories of gravitation in which special relativity applies locally.

Answer 7

It's a theory that was actually developed in the midwest that attempts to define the pattern of behavior that leads to people sleeping with their own relatives.

Answer 8

The easiest way to explain it is that there is no universal time.

Meaning the time varies on the speed of the object.

for example you send two rocket ships with babies into space one going at the speed of light and one the fastest velocity we can currently go

The aging rate of the babies will be diffrent..........for example becuase of its slower speed when the baby in the slower rocket turns eighty, the baby in the rocket going the speed of light could have aged only a day......

hence time is relative to speed....relativity..

Answer 9

No absolute. Everything must be measured relative to something else.


For example: You are sitting still, but the earth is rotating, and the earth is going around the Sun, and the Solar system....


Are you really fixed?

Answer 10

Well, the most simple explanation of the Theory of Relativity is that everything is relative....

Time, space, everything, its all relative to one another. That's the most simple, dumbed-down version I can produce.