The General Theory Of Relativity

Term Paper Title	The General Theory Of Relativity
# of Words	1772
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.09

The General Theory of Relativity

     The speed of light can never be exceeded.  A renowned science authority pointed out that, although speed is measured by numbers, and one can always be added to any number, 186,000 miles per second is the absolute limit (Asimov, 235).  Isaac Newton�s theory of relativity said that if a man were walking three miles per hour south on a train that was traveling one-hundred miles an hour north, the man would be traveling ninety-seven miles an hour north relative to the Earth and three miles an hour south relative to the train (Gardner, 9).  Albert Einstein�s General Theory of Relativity said the same thing except it included extreme instances also.  His theory also included accelerated motion, gravity and inertia (Gardner, 170).  Einstein�s theory takes a broader look of things and that is why it holds precedent over Isaac Newton�s theory today (Guillen, 203).  Einstein�s theory explains why the speed of light can not be surpassed.

     Motion is relative (Einstein, 51).  Both Einstein and Newton said that motion is relative to any vantagepoint.  Newton, however, failed to take into account extremely high speeds (Gardner, 23).  A mathematician explained that when Newton�s theory was used in these extreme cases, it fell apart (Davies, 22).  Einstein developed a theory that would work in all cases, but by doing so, he limited the maximum speed that can be attained by any object to the speed of light (Gardner, 23).  Einstein explained that the motion of one object is relative to any other object (Gardner, 24).  A mathematician set up this example:
�A person is sitting in a chair as still as they can be on Earth.  Earth however is traveling about the Sun at eighteen miles per second.  The entire solar system is traveling around the center of the galaxy, and so on.  The person sitting on the chair is not moving relative to Earth.  The person is moving, however, at eighteen miles per second relative to the Sun and even faster relative to the galaxy.� (Gardner, 13)

Gardner also explains that light, itself, has a constant speed that does not change.  He theorized that, if a flashlight were shown off the front of a speeding train, the speed of the train is not added to the speed of the light to determine the light�s speed.  He said that the light beam�s speed, relative to the train as well as an observer who is standing next to the track, is 186,000 miles per second.  (Gardner, 17).  All scientists agree that this phenomenon is yet to be explained (Asimov, 56).  If the speed of the train were added to that of the light beam, the beam would be traveling faster that the speed of light, contradicting Einstein�s theory.

A psychologist remarked that possibly the most difficult aspect of relativity for the human brain to grasp is that of time (Asimov, 61).  Einstein stated that even time is relative, meaning that it is not a constant.  In essence, he said that the faster an object travels, the slower its time passes until it reaches the speed of light, at which point time ceases to pass altogether (Gardner, 45).  There are, said Einstein, only local times.  Einstein further explained that our time system works only because we all travel at the same rate through space, therefore, all watches run on the same relative time to Earth.  Einstein�s formula for time relativity works out so that only miniscule differences occur at slow rates of speed, such as in a jet plane (Einstein, 156).  Clifford shows that the astronauts on the other ship are running slower, because of their great speed.  He suggested that if each astronaut set up an experiment where a beam of light was shot from the ceiling to the floor, and then reflected back again, each astronaut would see their own beam as traveling in a straight vertical line.  But when they observe each other�s beam of light, they will see that the beam travels in a �V� shaped path due to the ship�s motion forward.  When the path of the light is measured, the straight line is obviously shorter than that of the �V� shaped one.  He explains that by dividing the ...

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