In 1905, Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity was proposed. The reason that it is so "special" is because it was part of the more complex and extensive Theory of General Relativity, which was published in 1915. His theory reshaped the world of physics when it contradicted all previous laws of motion erected by Galileo and Newton. By mathematically manipulating these previous laws of motion, physicists in the nineteenth century were able to explain such phenomena as the flow of the ocean, the orbits of planets around the sun, the fall of rocks, and the random behavior of molecules in gases. At first, Einstein faced great opposition when he came up with his radical new theory because the previous laws of motion proposed by Galileo and expanded upon by Newton had remained valid for over two hundred years. However, it wouldn’t be long before the "cement" in the foundation of Newtonian and Galilean physics would begin to crumble.
Galileo had determined in 1608 that merely addition and subtraction could calculate relative speeds. Suppose that an observer stands on the side of the highway, and they watch two cars approach each other at 30 and 40 miles per hour. If they were to ask the question, "how fast is the 40 mile per hour car moving relative to the 30 mile per hour car?" They could solve the problem easily by adding the two speeds of the cars, which would equal 70 miles per hour. This means that the 40 mile per hour car sees the 30 mile per hour car advance at a speed of 70 miles per hour and vice versa.
At the core of Newtonian physics was the fact that space and time were absolute. Newton’s absolute space was the space of everyday experience with its three dimensions: east-west, north-south, and up-down. This space gives us our sense of length, breadth, and height; according to Newton. We all, regardless of our motion, will agree on the length, breadth, and height of an object, so long as we make sufficiently accurate measurements. Newton’s absolute time was the time that flows inexorably forward as we age. It is a time whose flow is experienced in common by all humanity.
The maximum speeds of birds in nature are regulated by air. No matter what direction a bird flies, it always has the same maximum speed. Newton had proposed something similar for light, which he referred to as the aether. He theorized that it was omnip...
... middle of paper ...
...a different speed will see the other’s clock slowed down.
Finally, length contraction is apparent whenever an object is in motion. For instance, an observer on the Earth would measure the length of the rocket to be shorter when it is moving at its high speed as compared to its length at rest.
Simultaneity, time intervals, and length must all be relative. Two events that are observed to be simultaneous in one reference frame will not be simultaneous in any other reference frame that is moving with respect to the first frame.
If Newtonian physics is so flawed, then why is it still used today? The answer is very simple. When traveling at speeds that are far from the speed of light i.e. speeds typical of human experience, effects such as time dilation and length contraction are so minute, it’s not practical to use Einstein’s more complex equations of Special Relativity in place of Newton’s for these motions. The fastest a human being has ever gone in a spacecraft in space is nowhere remotely near the awesome speed of light. Perhaps in the future, when spacecraft capable of traveling just under speed of light is developed, will we encounter this phenomenon in a substantial quantity.
In 1687, Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (also known as Principia). The Principia was the “climax of Newton's professional life” (“Sir Isaac Newton”, 370). This book contains not only information on gravity, but Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. The First Law states that an object in constant motion will remain in motion unless an outside force is applied. The Second Law states that an object accelerates when a force is applied to a mass and greater force is needed to accelerate an object with a larger mass. The Third Law states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. These laws were fundamental in explaining the elliptical orbits of planets, moons, and comets. They were also used to calculate
Greene continues with his explanations of the special theory of relativity.Chapter 3: Of Warps and Ripples Green begins the chapter by describing "Newton's View of Gravity" and continues by discussing the incompatibility of Newtonian Gravity and Special Relativity. The author also talks about how Einstein discovered the link between acceleration and the warping of space and time. Greene also discuses the basic aspects of General Relativity. He later points out how the two theories of relativity effect black holes, the big bang, and the expansion of space.Chapter 4: Microscopic Weirdness This chapter describes, in detail, the workings of quantum mechanics.
The Theory of Relativity, proposed by the Jewish physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in the early part of the 20th century, is one of the most significant scientific advances of our time. Although the concept of relativity was not introduced by Einstein, his major contribution was the recognition that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and an absolute physical boundary for motion. This does not have a major impact on a person's day-to-day life since we travel at speeds much slower than light speed. For objects travelling near light speed, however, the theory of relativity states that objects will move slower and shorten in length from the point of view of an observer on Earth. Einstein also
An even more important aspect of relativity is related to “world view.” There is no question that the Western view of an event often differs greatly from say an indigenous or animistic orientation. Whereas a logical person wants a scientific explanation for an event, a shamanic one wants the “reasons,” not the proof. An example is that of a drought (weather patterns changing). Our science and rational explanation would be very complicated involving temperature gradiational change of water levels in the ocean, more or less sunlight hitting the area based on our atmospheric reflection conditions, excess dust blowing from desertification of an area windward of the draught area, and it goes on. These would be facts and possibly correct. But there is always that which transpires behind that which is.
One of the earliest questionings of the speed of light was done by a Greek Philosopher by the name of Empedocles. Empedocles taught that the universe was composed of fire, water, air, and earth. He also was the first to say that light had a finite speed. He proposed that light was something in motion and had to take time to travel. Aristotle thought that light is due to the occurrence of something—not any movement. Ptolemy and Euclid, two great mathematicians, talked about there new emission theory of vision, that told that light is emitted from the eye. Heron of Alexandria, an Egyptian mathematician, proposed the speed of light must be infinite, due to the distant objects appearing right as the opening of eyes occur. Johannes Kepler, the great astronomer of Germany, stood by the idea that the speed of light was infinite, because empty space has no obstacle to it. Without ...
Isaac Newton had a new approach to the existence of space and time that contradicted that of great philosophers such as Leibniz and Descates. Newton felt that space and time are infinite and independent of the body and mind, that the bodies and minds of the world existed in space and time and even without the presence of physical bodies there still would be space and time. He stated there “are positions in space and time which are independent of the material entities” that existed in them and that the principles of empty space and time are possible. In the Prolegomena, Immanuel Kant seems to have agreed in part with Newton’s views of space and time and attempted to support Newton by presenting two forms of judgment that would maintain Newton’s thesis, these being judgments of perception and judgments of experience.
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.
5.) Linear time - is a record of events in sequence from past to the present.
The scientific term of ‘motion’ is been one of the strangest phenomenon known in the history of physics. Since the end of the 17th century, the vast improvements in the technology and society have evolved the meaning of the word motion in terms of physics from ‘a simple movement’ to ‘a change in position, if acted upon by an unbalanced force’. In modern physics, motion is the change in position of an object with respect to its time and its reference point. Motion can be described as both scalar and vector quantity in relation to displacement, speed, direction, velocity, acceleration and time. If an object in not changing its position over time, then it is said to be in a stationary position. Every motion in the universe is explained through the laws of mechanics. The motion of all large scales such as movements in space, humans, and cells is known as the classical mechanism and motion of very small scale, such as in molecules and atoms is known as the quantum mechanics. In the 17th century, the three laws of motion were released after a scientist called Isaac Newton, who explained the modern definition of motion. These laws have now become known as the ‘Newton’s three laws’.
The theory of Special Relativity, written by Albert Einstein in 1905, describes the laws of motion at velocities close to and at the speed of light. It was written to make the laws of motion consistent with the laws of electromagnetism. Special relativity makes two postulates: the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers and the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, regardless of motion. One of the consequences of these postulates is that clocks run slower to an observer in motion, or time slows down. Special relativity also states that objects at high speeds always appear shorter in the direction of motion than they do at rest. However, length measurements transverse to the direction of motion are unaffected. Velocity addition is different for special relativity than for classical mechanics because according to special relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Also, in order to retain the conservation of momentum as a general law consistent with Einstein's first postulate, a new definition of momentum must be used at relativistic velocities. The twin paradox is the famous example that uses time dilation and length contraction. Special relativity is not contradictory with classical mechanics because at low speeds, all of the laws of special relativity reduce to the laws of classical mechanics.
Sir Isaac Newton was a revolutionary scientist of his time. His laws of motion, which now seems a simple concept to understand, was a dramatic new finding in science in his time. His laws of motion describe and explain the effects of forces acting on a body, and the body’s motion that results from the forces acting upon it. The three laws of motion are the following: every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force/ an explanation on how the velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external force/ for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I am not saying that Newton’s and other theories like it are wrong, I am saying that we put too much faith in something that is not absolute, unfortunately we have no other choice.
As the familiar story goes, Sir Isaac Newton was lounging under an apple tree on a beautiful day in the seventeenth century. Without any warning, a rogue apple fell from a high branch and struck him on the head. Despite the resulting head trauma, Newton spontaneously concluded that some force, which he named gravity, must have caused the apple to fall and thus he formulated his Universal Law of Gravitation. According to Newton, gravity acted as an instantaneous attraction between two objects that could occur over a distance of any size. He developed equations that predicted the effects of gravity with astonishing accuracy, from the falls of apples to the orbits of planets (Strobel). However, Newton’s profound achievement lacked one key aspect. Despite consistent verification by experimental data, it made no effort to explain the mechanism by which gravity operated; Newton said nothing about why gravity worked or how it kept the moon in a perpetual orbit around the earth. He explicitly stated, “I leave this problem to the consideration of the reader,” when referring to the possible causes of gravity (Greene 64). Newton consistently sidestepped this issue, which remained unsolved until the twentieth century.
Theory of Special Relativity was created by Albert Einstein in 1906, and used the theory to discover and link it to the space-time continuum. The space-time continuum is space and time are combined because the theory of relativity shows that both space and time must get mixed in order to truly define what we see. In gravitational time dilation, time passes faster with less gravity. This affects the theory because the bigger the object, the slower time passes by. In conclusion, it is because of Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity, that the space-time continuum was discovered.
Classical mechanics is a summary from the daily life of mechanical movement out of the law, the speed of movement of objects in everyday life are low speed, and the speed is much less than the speed of light, such as a moving car, firing missiles, satellites and spacecraft, etc. therefore fully applicable to classical mechanics. Some microscopic particles under certain conditions it may be close to the speed of light, this speed is called speed. Fast-moving objects, classical mechanics no longer apply, and the early 20th century, the famous physicist Albert Einstein established the special theory of relativity, special relativity elaborated near the speed of light in order to comply with the laws of motion of