I've read a bunch of different papers on it, and it seems to pretty full of holes, but I think it's because nobody has ever done a good job of explaining it to me. I understand that Einstein said nothing can accelerate up to the speed of light. I understand that if you put a watch on an airplane there is a difference in how fast it ticks. But I'm still not exactly sure why, or how Einstein thought of that. Keep it simple if possible I don't feel like reading a bunch of equations.
2006-08-22 21:18:04 · 6 answers · asked by Batman 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
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.
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).
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.
2006-08-22 21:29:54 · answer #1 · answered by modcaps 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagine you're watching the thanksgiving day parade from a street corner. The parade is miles long but you can only see about a block's worth. Now imagine you are watching the same parade from a window 25 stories up. You can see where it starts, the whole show, and where it ends.
Time is like the parade.
We naturally (at the pace of time we are used to) see the parade from the street corner.
The faster you accelerate is like the higher up you go.
You get to see more of the parade without straining your neck.
In Time/Space the faster you go, the more "time" passes you without affecting you.
Remember, this is a REALLY simplified explanation and would probably be laughed out of any college physics class, but you said keep it simple.
In reality, moving at the speed of light would be like watching the parade from the moon! It's really really fast so time is really really slow.
Anyway, pathetic example, but I hope it helps. Somehow.
2006-08-22 21:37:19 · answer #2 · answered by trillo333 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The fastest thing to travel known to humans was light. This theory was proposed when astronomers when observing stars saw it shifting over time and puzzled. According to theory of relatively due to gravtitational force of the stars and the earth, the light gets bent and you see the shifting of stars
2006-08-22 21:35:55 · answer #3 · answered by Sampath K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
relativity theory deals with body at very great speed. professor Einstin said that the laws of Newton is crrect only at normal speed but when body travel at very great speed , near the light speed , the laws of Newton is no longer correct and we must improve it :mass and length and time have special formula at great speed.
2006-08-22 21:35:48 · answer #4 · answered by eshaghi_2006 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
speed of light and the gravity really it is based lot on quantum science and string theory
2006-08-23 06:46:27 · answer #5 · answered by Dimension 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a mathematical comparison of 'Time' and 'Space'
I can't answer simpler than this...
2006-08-22 21:22:19 · answer #6 · answered by Ω Nookey™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋