relativity
In physics, theory of the relative rather than absolute character of mass, time, and space, and their interdependence, as developed by German-born US physicist Albert Einstein in two phases:
Special theory of relativity (1905)
Starting with the premises that (1) the laws of nature are the same for all observers in unaccelerated motion and (2) the speed of light is independent of the motion of its source, Einstein arrived at some rather unexpected consequences. Intuitively familiar concepts, like mass, length, and time, had to be modified. For example, an object moving rapidly past the observer will appear to be both shorter and more massive than when it is at rest (that is, at rest relative to the observer), and a clock moving rapidly past the observer will appear to be running slower than when it is at rest. These predictions of relativity theory seem to be foreign to everyday experience merely because the changes are quite negligible at speeds less than about 1,500 kps/930 mps and only become appreciable at speeds approaching the speed of light.
General theory of relativity (1915)
The geometrical properties of space-time were to be conceived as modified locally by the presence of a body with mass. A planet's orbit around the Sun (as observed in three-dimensional space) arises from its natural trajectory in modified space-time. Einstein's general theory accounts for a peculiarity in the behaviour of the motion of the perihelion of the orbit of the planet Mercury that cannot be explained in Newton's theory. The new theory also said that light rays should bend when they pass by a massive object. The predicted bending of starlight was observed during the eclipse of the Sun in 1919. A third corroboration is found in the shift towards the red in the spectra of the Sun and, in particular, of stars of great density – white dwarfs such as the companion of Sirius.
Einstein showed that, for consistency with the above premises (1) and (2), the principles of dynamics as established by Newton needed modification; the most celebrated new result was the equation E = mc2, which expresses an equivalence between mass (m) and energy (E), c being the speed of light in a vacuum. In ‘relativistic mechanics’, conservation of mass is replaced by the new concept of conservation of ‘mass-energy’. General relativity is central to modern astrophysics and cosmology; it predicts, for example, the possibility of black holes. General relativity theory was inspired by the simple idea that it is impossible in a small region to distinguish between acceleration and gravitation effects (as in a lift one feels heavier when the lift accelerates upwards), but the mathematical development of the idea is formidable. Such is not the case for the special theory, which a non-expert can follow up to E = mc2 and beyond.
| A famous relativity problem is the ‘twin paradox’. If one of two twins, O′, sets off at high speed in a spaceship, travels for some years, and then turns around and returns at high speed to rejoin the other twin, O, who stayed at home, he will have aged less than O, because his clocks have been running slower. If his speed is v = 0.995c in each direction, he will have aged only one year for every 10 years that O has aged. This conclusion has been hotly disputed, because it appears to contradict the symmetry that ought to exist between O and O′. But now there is no such symmetry: O has remained in an unaccelerated state, whereas O′ has suffered three very large changes in velocity, and both will in fact agree that O has aged more than O′. The observed slowing down of the decay of mesons when moving conclusively shows the existence of this effect, called time dilation. |
