How do you explain the theory of relativity to a child?

How do you explain the theory of relativity to a child?

General relativity says that planets do the same thing to space-time. They actually bend space and time around themselves. That’s why things fall towards the ground. They’re falling towards the middle of the Earth because Earth is pulling space-time towards itself.

What is theory of relativity in one sentence?

According to the theory of general relativity, matter causes space to curve. It is posited that gravitation is not a force, as understood by Newtonian physics, but a curved field (an area of space under the influence of a force) in the space-time continuum that is actually created by the presence of mass.

What is a simple example of relativity?

A Relative Example One example of relativity is to imagine two people on a train playing ping-pong. The train is traveling at around 30 m/s north. When the ball is hit back and forth between the two players, the ball appears to the players to move north at a speed of around 2 m/s and then south at the speed of 2 m/s.

How did Einstein explain his theory of relativity in simple words?

Einstein’s revelation was that observers in relative motion experience time differently: it’s perfectly possible for two events to happen simultaneously from the perspective of one observer, yet happen at different times from the perspective of the other. And both observers would be right.

How is relativity used in everyday life?

GPS Navigators The Theory of Relativity, published by Einstein in 1915, explains why clocks on satellites are ahead of those on Earth by 38,000 nanoseconds. It doesn’t seem like much, but if these nanoseconds weren’t accounted for, GPS systems would be off by kilometers.

What is relativity in your own words?

Relativity is the word for how things only have importance in relation to other things. In physics, relativity refers to Einstein’s theory that time and space are not absolute. If you believe there are absolute, correct answers to everything, you probably don’t like relativity, which is the opposite of absolutism.

Why is theory of relativity important?

In the field of physics, relativity improved the science of elementary particles and their fundamental interactions, along with ushering in the nuclear age. With relativity, cosmology and astrophysics predicted extraordinary astronomical phenomena such as neutron stars, black holes, and gravitational waves.

What are the three laws of relativity?

I begin the discussion by offering the following three laws: ▸ The laws of physics are identical in all non-accelerating (that is, inertial) frames. ▸ The vacuum speed of light, c, is the same for all inertial frames. ▸ The total energy E of a body of mass m and momentum p is given by E=√m2c4+p2c2.

What is the truth about relativity?

1. The Truth About Relativity: The human mind uses comparative thinking to make decisions, comparing options on offer, and comparing ourselves to others – and this leads to irrational behavior.

Is relativity an illusion?

No. It is not about any measurement error or the wrong measurements being carried out by some observer or something. Relativity is about the actual changes that come when you change the frame of reference.

What is Stephen Hawking’s theory of relativity?

According to Hawking’s interpretation of general relativity, as a black hole’s surface area increases with its mass, and because no object thrown inside can exit, its surface area cannot decrease.

What is general theory of relativity examples?

General Relativity Just as a small marble would roll towards a person sitting on a trampoline, light would bend towards a large mass in space-time. In other words, the speed of light is affected by gravity. Science has demonstrated the speed of light to decrease within a gravitational field.

What is the first principle of Einstein’s theory of relativity?

Principle of Relativity: The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference. It follows that: Absolute motion cannot appear in any law of physics. All experiments run the same in all inertial frames of reference.

Why is it called theory of relativity?

Einstein’s theory gets its name because it describes how measurements of space and time differ for observers moving relative to one another.

How do you use relativity in a sentence?

It is based on two other theories: special relativity and quantum mechanics. Special relativity won’t help but general relativity can.