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History of physics essay
Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity
Chapter 28: Special Relativity And Albert Einstein
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Motion and time are fundamental components of life. Finding himself late to work, an employee will drive faster, which in turn, will reduce the time needed to commute to his job. The rules of motion and time are known intrinsically to every person on the planet. As children, these “Laws” become common sense. No explanation is needed when a sleeping student falls out of his desk onto the floor. Motion and time were always considered to be self-explanatory and obvious parts of everyday life. This was true until a group of scientists who deemed themselves “Physicists” began challenging the known rules of motion and explaining them using mathematics and experimentation. Isaac Newton was one of these founding fathers of physics. His experiments in the 17th century focused on “Forces”: Pushes and pulls that made matter move. Every physics student has been made familiar with his three laws of motion, and to this day, these remain the fundamental rules of moving bodies on Earth. Newton would remain the most famous physicist of all time until the early 1900's, when a new champion of physics set the world ablaze with dreams of time travel, black holes, and a mysterious phenomenon dubbed “Relativity.” Albert Einstein’s ideas revolutionized science and technology and opened a new field of theoretical physics concerned with the origins and behavior of the universe as a whole. Many believe that only a person of Einstein’s mental caliber could possibly comprehend The Theory of Relativity, but this is far from true. The concepts behind this theory are accessible by most everyone, but it took a man of Einstein’s genius and determination to see what so many had taken granted for many years. Understand... ... middle of paper ... ... field of study for aspiring theoretical physicists in the final search for a Unifying Field Theory which may finally describe the dynamics of the universe. Works Cited "Albert Einstein." . 9 Nov 2004. Wikipedia. 16 Nov 2004 Einstein, Albert. The Meaning of Relativity. 4th ed. Princeton: Princeton University. P, 1953. Kaku, Michio. Einstein's Cosmos. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. "Speed of Light." . 9 Nov 2004. Wikipedia. 16 Nov 2004 "Theory of Relativity." . 9 Nov 2004. Wikipedia. 16 Nov 2004 Watterson, Bill. Calvin & Hobbes. Various collections. Universal Press Syndicate. 2004 Wolfson, Richard. Simply Einstein. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003.
John McTaggart in his essay “Time” presents a radical argument that claims time is unreal. While the argument is interesting and has attracted much attention for his arguments, I remain unconvinced of the argument he makes. This paper will lay out McTaggart’s argument that time in unreal, critically analyze why I believe McTaggart’s argument fails and present an alternative idea about time, utilizing aspects of McTaggart’s argument.
The theory of relativity is the basic theory about space-time continuum and gravitation which was mainly established by the greatest theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. According to the areas it aims to describe, Einstein’s theory of relativity can be classified into special relativity (space-time) and general relativity (gravitation) 1. The theory of relativity, as do quantum mechanics, brought a revolutionary impact on the foundation of modern physics, and thus had an impact on modern technology. And it impacted the “common sense” understanding that people had of the universe by its new concepts such as four dimensional spaces and curved space.
In this essay we will consider a much more recent approach to time that came to the fore in the twentieth century. In 1908 James McTaggart published an article in Mind entitled 'The Unreality of Time', in which, as the title implies, he argued that there is in reality no such thing as time. Now although this claim was in itself startling, probably what was even more significant than McTaggart's arguments was his way of stating them. It was in this paper that McTaggart first drew his now standard distinction between two ways of saying when things happen. In this essay we shall outline these ways of describing events and then discuss the merits and demerits of each, and examine what has become known as the 'tensed versus tenseless' debate on temporal becoming.
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
We live a life of constants, the sun will rise, the seasons will change and time shall continue to flow. But everything is not what it seems. The sun is not really rising, as we perceive it to be. It is just our static position on the globe as we rotate, facing towards and away from the sun. The seasons are not changing, they are disappearing. Being replaced by their successor due to the Earth’s tilt, either leaning closer or further from the sun’s warmth and light. Such as these, time may be more intricate than was first believed.
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.
From a very young age, I have enjoyed reading a wide spectrum of topics. However, during high school, I had become preoccupied with physics during my studies and readings, and so I began to focus my attention upon the materials that further shed light on the science. The more I read, the more I became intrigued with the interrelations between matter, energy, and time and space motion illustrated through the science. Therefore, motivated to become one of Saudi Arabia’ few female physicists, upon graduating from high school I opted to major in the science that captivated me like no other....
Norton, John D. "Einstein on the Completeness of Quantum Theory." University of Pittsburgh, 2011. Web Page. 31 March 2014. .
The scientific definition of time is a measurement of progress that is relative to an individual’s perception of events (HowStuffWorks.com, 2010). A psychological study proves that these viewpoints are
In 1905, Albert Einstein wrote his paper on the special theory of relativity (Prosper). This theory has the reputation as being so exotic that few people can understand it. On the contrary, special relativity is simply a system of kinematics and dynamics, based on a set of postulates that is different from those of classical mec...
Initially, Albert Einstein was the person to predict the existence of black holes through his General Theory of Relativity, in which he had created several general equations that show the interaction of gravitation as a result of space being curved by matter or energy. In 1915, he published Einstein’s field equations, which specify how the geometry of space and time is influenced by whatever matter and radiation are present, and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity (Redd). The general theory relativity was the initial step in the process to finding out more information about black holes. As time went on, there were a few main contributors that solved these equations to help develop better theories on black holes. One of the most important contributors to the development of a better u...
Yes, many people have heard of Albert Einsteins General Theory of Relativity, but few people know about the intriguing life that led this scientist to discover what some have called The Greatest Single achievement of human thought!
In the natural world, physicists find new discoveries constantly. Some of these discoveries include the study of motion and forces. The well-known scientist, Isaac Newton, came up with the three laws of motion, which state rules and facts about the movement of an object. Our textbook states the laws of motion, as ?A body in motion will remain in motion at a constant speed and direction unless an outside force acts upon it. The net force acting upon an object is directly related to the mass and acceleration of the object resulting acceleration is in the direction of the net force, which is the vector sum of all forces acting upon the object. Finally, the third law of motion states that when one object applies a force to another, the other object applies the same amount of force back to the first object, but in opposite directions.? With these laws of motion, we can understand in detail how our world works. Also, that the movement of an object is more complex than a simple push. This discovery is taught to students all over the world because of its great importance and will continue to enhance the knowledge of the mystery of our earth.
Sir Isaac Newton is the man well known for his discoveries around the term, Motion. He came up with three basic ideas, called Newton’s three laws of motion.
The scientist Aristotle (384-322 BCE) developed many important theories which modern day physics is based upon. One of these theories is Aristotle’s theory of motion. Through his research Aristotle attempted to provide explanations as to how objects in our universe moved. While many of his theories have been since proven to be inaccurate, they provided a basis for future theories which eventually lead to our present day understanding of motion.