The Theory of Relativity In Less Than 7 Minutes

jenkinrocket (64)in #science • 7 years ago (edited)

It's all relative. There. Done. Well, not quite actually.

Einstein's great insight (I say that like he just had one) was that despite what Newtonian physics had said up to that point, there is no universal time. That means that time can move differently from one body or location to another, based on how fast it is moving through space.

Perhaps you've heard that before. But how about this? There is no universal movement either. We're traveling through space right now at a breakneck speed as the planet revolves around the sun and the sun itself travels along the edge of the Milky Way, our galaxy. Why don't we notice this?

Well, it's because we're all moving with the surface of our planet, and the air molecules are too, and so is everything else close to us. Locally, you could even say we aren't spinning. That, in fact, the entire universe is spinning around us.

So... where's the true thing that's still? Where's the frame of reference by which all other frames are measured if everything is moving and transforming throughout time and space.

Einstein taught us that there isn't one. Every body or place can only be measured against another body or place.

And when one body speeds up movement compared to another, so it will travel through time more slowly than the slower body.

This goes for everything except the speed of light which is the same for all observers in a vacuum. This means that space and time are inextricably bound in the same fabric. Einstein also predicted that massive objects cause a distortion in this fabric, which is felt as gravity.

That's not the whole of relativity by any stretch of the imagination, but now you can talk about it the next time you're at a bar or family gathering and look super smart :D.