Please will someone explain special relativity to me in a way that I understand?

Question

All I can grasp from what I have read is that as you get close to the speed of light time for you slows.

Any links to any sites or books or videos to explain it in a way I might understand would be very much appreciated.
I dont understand any of the thought experiments that Einstein did.
Its getting on my nerves now because I cant picture whats happening and I get most other things straight away.

Answer 1

http://www.btinternet.com/~j.doyle/SR/sr1.htm

http://www.allaboutscience.org/special-relativity-faq.htm

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/relativity/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_theory_of_relativity

these all helped me understand it, especially the top one...

Answer 2

Relativity is very basically but where the name comes from is where you are observing things relative the thing you observing.

A classic example which Einstein used is if you are on a train that is travelling at constant 60 mph, it appears to you that you are able to move about as if you are stationary (no forces from acceleration). To the observer on the track you are speeding passed vroooommmm. Now if you imagine the person on the train throws a pebble off the train, were an observer is. Then the event of the pebble or its path, would appear different from the train as it would from the side of the track, so the observed event is relative to the position of the observer.

Other people when they say there is not enough room to fully explain the basic concepts of Relativity are correct because equations derived form train scenarios involving guns, light bulbs, momentum etc.. bring about with heavy math treatment yield phenomenas of energy's associated mass, time dilation, the constant of the speed of light and possibly many more.


This may be way to a simple explanation of SR than you were expecting, but at the time it was said only 2/3 understand SR. Try not to understand why this is but just what the issues the equations show.

Answer 3

The other posters did a good job of 1 - 5. Let me try the last two. 6. Space and time aren't relative but measurements of them are. In other words, we impose coordinate systems based on some assumption about our relative motion - usually we assume we are at rest. Then we measure distances with meter sticks (or other such devices) and time with clocks. However, a person moving at a high speed won't measure teh same distances or elapsed times for a given event. This is a result of the speed of light having to be the same for all observers. So the moving observer sees our (stationary) meter sticks as being too short and our clocks running slow. But these are measures of space and time intervals which are relative. 7. Some folks think photons have a very small mass - hasn't been proven but it's out there. But what you're scratching at is the wave-particle duality that quantum theory draws you into. Some would argue that we have this seeming contradiction because the theory is only an approximation of the correct theory. In any case, it is the model we live and work with and the main reason we stick with it is that it works extremely well. This doens't answer your question as I don't believe your question has an answer based on our current understanding.

Answer 4

The main problem is that it is indeed hard to picture, because we have no concept of what its like to travel at large fractions of the speed of light, its a different world to us, just as on the opposite scale its hard to fully understand quantum theory and the idea of wave-particle duality. We don't experience it very often because it's not on our scale. Have fun with Einstein's thought experiments though, and remember he was a fairly clever chappy.

Answer 5

It's a bit of a mind bender i'm afraid!

Basicaly, the speed of light is always constant relative to you regardless how fast you are travelling.

If you shine a torch out the window of your car when you are travelling at 70 mph, the light will travel away from you at the same rate as if your car was stationary.

This will be true even if you are in a theoretical spaceship travelling at close to the speed of light itself. The light from your torch will still travel away from you at the speed of light.

Answer 6

Special Relativity has to do with curvature in the absence of gravity. It's a special case of General Relativity that observes physical phenomena using Newtonian concepts. There is no easy way to explain Relativity, other than all things possess independent reference frames, giving rise to differing experiences. This allows paradoxical situations to arise.

Answer 7

If you don't get it, I can't explain it in the space Y!A provide. You need to start with dynamics and electrodynamics. Then get Einstein's book out of the library and sit down with it and a large pot of strong coffee.

Answer 8

I'm not sure at what level you want to understand special relativity, but I think one of the best qualitative explanations is found in Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe ( http://www.amazon.com/ELegant-Universe-Brian-Greene/dp/009928992X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-7006567-1296805?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190517711&sr=8-3 ).

Answer 9

There once was a spaceman named Dwight
who, it's said, could go faster than light.
He left home one day
in a relative way
and returned on the previous night.

Answer 10

the light clock is what you wanna start with