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Introduction to special theory of relativity :
The theory of special relativity explains how space and time are linked for objects that are moving at a consistent speed in a straight line. One of its most famous aspects concerns objects moving at the speed of light.
Simply put, as an object approaches the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite and it is unable to go any faster than light travels. This cosmic speed limit has been a subject of much discussion in physics, and even in science fiction, as people think about how to travel across vast distances.
The theory of special relativity was developed by Albert Einstein in 1905, and it forms part of the basis of modern physics. After finishing his work in special relativity, Einstein spent a decade pondering what would happen if one introduced acceleration. This formed the basis of his general relativity, published in 1915.
Equation:
One of the most famous equations in mathematics comes from special relativity. The equation — E = mc2 — means "energy equals mass times the speed of light squared." It shows that energy (E) and mass (m) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing. If mass is somehow totally converted into energy, it also shows how much energy would reside inside that mass: quite a lot. (This equation is one of the demonstrations for why an atomic bomb is so powerful, once its mass is converted to an explosion.)
This equation also shows that mass increases with speed, which effectively puts a speed limit on how fast things can move in the universe.
History:
Before Einstein, astronomers (for the most part) understood the universe in terms of three laws of motion presented by Isaac Newton in 1686. These three laws are:
(1) Objects in motion (or at rest) remain in motion (or at rest) unless an external force imposes change.
(2) Force is equal to the change in momentum per change of time. For a constant mass, force equals mass times acceleration.
(3) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
But there were cracks in the theory for decades before Einstein ' s arrival on the scene, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1865, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that light is a wave with both electrical and magnetic components, and established the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Scientists supposed that the light had to be transmitted through some medium, which they called the ether. (We now know that no transmission medium is required, and that light in space moves in a vacuum.)
Twenty years later, an unexpected result threw this into question. Physicist A.A. Michelson and chemist Edward Morley (both Americans at the time) calculated how Earth's motion through this "ether" affected how the speed of light is measured, and found that the speed of light is the same no matter what Earth's motion is. This led to further musings on light's behavior — and its incongruence with classical mechanics — by Austrian physicist Ernst Mach and French mathematician Henri Poincare.
Einstein began thinking of light's behavior when he was just 16 years old, in 1895. He did a thought experiment, the encyclopedia said, where he rode on one light wave and looked at another light wave moving parallel to him.
Classical physics should say that the light wave Einstein was looking at would have a relative speed of zero, but this contradicted Maxwell's equations that showed light always has the same speed: 186,000 miles a second. Another problem with relative speeds is they would show that the laws of electromagnetism change depending on your vantage point, which contradicted classical physics as well (which said the laws of physics were the same for everyone.)
This led to Einstein's eventual musings on the theory of special relativity, which he broke down into the everyday example of a person standing beside a moving train, comparing observations with a person inside the train. He imagined the train being at a point in the track equally between two trees. If a bolt of lightning hit both trees at the same time, due to the motion of the train, the person on the train would see the bolt hit one tree before the other tree. But the person beside the track would see simultaneous strikes.
" Einstein concluded that simultaneity is relative; events that are simultaneous for one observer may not be for another," the encyclopedia stated. "This led him to the counterintuitive idea that time flows differently according to the state of motion, and to the conclusion that distance is also relative."
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