Photo: Rafael Lopes
Special Theory of Relativity
This is one of Albert Einstein’s theories developed in 1905 which, in its most basic form, says:
- in non-accelerated (i.e. inertial) frames of reference, physical laws always and everywhere apply regardless of the frame of reference and
- the speed of light is constant independent of the speed of the observer
Because the speed of the observer is a frame of reference, the above statements seem to conflict. To resolve these apparently conflicting statements, complex equations were developed, leading to the famous e=mc², where ‘e’ is energy, ‘m’ is matter, and ‘c’ is the constant speed of light.
According to this equation, mass increases with velocity and decreases with a loss of energy.
On the Web:
» General Theory of Relativity
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinionAdd to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion
The first statement is correct, except that the quality of relationship between reference frames is either degraded or enhanced.
Comment by Susan Burns — September 25, 2009 @ 6:47 am |
Thanks Susan. Could you explain for non-specialists what is meant by the quality of the relationship? Possibly give an example?
Comment by Earthpages.ca — September 25, 2009 @ 10:04 am |