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The contribution of Albert Einstein to modern science
Albert Einstein's contributions to the world
Albert einstein contribution to physics
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Relativity and the Cosmos
In November of 1919, at the age of 40, Albert Einstein became an overnight celebrity, thanks to a solar eclipse. An experiment had confirmed that light rays from distant stars were deflected by the gravity of the sun in just the amount he had predicted in his theory of gravity, General Relativity. General Relativity was the first major new theory of gravity since Isaac Newton's, more than two hundred and fifty years earlier.
Einstein became a hero, and the myth building began. Headlines appeared in newspapers all over the world. On November 8, 1919, for example, the London Times had an article headlined: "The Revolution In Science/Einstein Versus Newton." Two days later, The New York Times' headlines read: "Lights All Askew In The Heavens/Men Of Science More Or Less Agog Over Results Of Eclipse Observations/Einstein Theory Triumphs." The planet was exhausted with World War I, eager for some sign of humankind's nobility, and suddenly here was a modest scientific genius, seemingly interested only in pure intellectual pursuits.
What was General Relativity? Einstein's earlier theory of time and space, Special Relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock depends on the motion of the observer of that clock; likewise for the length of a "yard stick." Published in 1915, General Relativity proposed that gravity, as well as motion, can affect the intervals of time and of space.
The key idea of General Relativity, called the Equivalence Principle, is that gravity pulling in one direction is completely equivalent to an acceleration in the opposite direction. (A car accelerating forwards feels just like sideways gravity pushing you back against your seat. An elevator accelerating upwards feels just like gravity pushing you into the floor.
If gravity is equivalent to acceleration, and if motion affects measurements of time and space (as shown in Special Relativity), then it follows that gravity does so as well.In particular, the gravity of any mass, such as our sun, has the effect of warping the space and time around it.
On Earth the force of gravity causes all objects to accelerate at 9.8m/s^2. For example, say you have a mass of 1kg on the surface of the earth. The force of gravity between the two objects is given by:
In 1905, the great physicist, Albert Einstein, put forward a new theory called "The Special Theory of Relativity".
Severance, John B. Einstein: Visionary Scientist. New York: Clarion Books, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 14 Apr. 2014
A hundred years ago, a young married couple sat at a kitchen table talking over the items of the day while their young boy sat listening earnestly. He had heard the debate every night, and while there were no raised voices, their discussion was intense. It was a subject about which his parents were most passionate - the electrodynamics of moving bodies in the universe. The couple were of equal intelligence and fortitude, working together on a theory that few people can comprehend even to this day. Mileva Maric Einstein was considered to be the intellectual equal of her husband Albert, but somehow went unrecognized for her contributions to the 1905 Papers, which included the Special Theory of Relativity. The stronger force of these two bodies would be propelled into the archives of scientific history, while the other would be left to die alone, virtually unknown. Mrs. Einstein was robbed. She deserved to be recognized for at least a collaborative effort, but it was not to be. The role which society had accorded her and plain, bad luck would prove to be responsible for the life of this great mathematician and scientist, gone unnoticed.
Friedman, Alan J. and Carol C. Donley "Einstein As Myth and Muse" Cambrige 1985, Cambridge University Press
One of the theories that I agree with the most is Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. This theory implies that time and space are relative rather than absolute. This is said to hold true only with the absence of a gravitational field. Without Einstein’s theory of relativity the accuracy of the global positing system would drift more than seven miles every day.
Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces in the universe. Though the fundamental principles of it eluded scientists until Sir Isaac Newton was able to mathematically describe it in 1687 (Eddington 93). Gravity plays a serious part in everyday actions as it keeps everything on the ground without. gravity everything would be immobile unless a force was applied then it would. move infinitely because there would be no force to stop it).
Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. Three Rivers Press, New York, New York. 1961.
Special Relativity is the theory, developed by the great and mighty Einstein, stating that no matter what speed, keeping it constant, you’re traveling, all the laws of physics are the same. General relativity states that when you are at rest, the gravitational field and accelerating field are physically identical. These laws help further explain the even if you’re moving, no matter in what way or direction, the laws of physics still end up working the same. So even if you were moving, you could treat yourself as if you were actually resting.
Sir Isaac Newton came up with many theories of time and space. Euclid said that there can be a concept of a straight line but Newton said nothing could ever travel in a straight line, see illustration below.
Initially, Albert Einstein was the person to predict the existence of black holes through his General Theory of Relativity, in which he had created several general equations that show the interaction of gravitation as a result of space being curved by matter or energy. In 1915, he published Einstein’s field equations, which specify how the geometry of space and time is influenced by whatever matter and radiation are present, and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity (Redd). The general theory relativity was the initial step in the process to finding out more information about black holes. As time went on, there were a few main contributors that solved these equations to help develop better theories on black holes. One of the most important contributors to the development of a better u...
In 1905 Albert Einstein introduced a theory called special relativity. Special Relativity deals with objects at a speed near the speed of light, c, with constant velocity. Ten years later he came out with his Nobel Prize winning theory of General Relativity which involves two objects moving a different accelerations. Einstein explained his theory by using a train car a light bulb and two observers. This train is going down the track with one observer inside the train car and one outside the train car. The observer inside the car standing exactly in the middle turns on the light switch then views the light hitting both walls at the same time. The outside observer standing so he is exactly in the middle of the car, but outside, when the light is turned on sees something different. This observer sees the light hit the back wall of the car, then hit the front wall. Why does this happen? This happens because there are two different obser...
Gravity is the force that pulls two objects together, and the mass of the human body depends on gravity. The more the mass there is, the amount of the gravitational force will increase. The study of the Earth’s gravitational field itself is complex and deeply fascinating. Likewise, studying its relation to the human body makes it even more thought provoking. A gravitational field is simply the area of space neighboring a body that has another body experiencing a gravitational attraction force. As human beings and just general species, our state in Earth is not the same as it is up in the atmosphere or another planet. Unfortunately, the term “gravity” is thrown around futilely these days, but in this essay you will learn its purpose in our Earth, and all the notions that go along with it.
General relativity is Einstein’s theory of space, time and gravitation. It is the most beautiful physical theory ever invented. Nevertheless, it has a reputation of being extremely difficult, primarily for two reasons: tensors are everywhere, and space time is curved. But at heart it is a very simple subject. The essential idea is perfectly straightforward: Spacetime is a curved pseudo-Riemannian manifold with a metric signature of (-+++) and the relationship between matter and the curvature of spacetime is contained in the equation