Relativity (and it's workings)


Relativity theory is one of the most famous theories to science. It was discovered by Albert Einstein. Nowadays it is used as the base for space-time and the explanation to some of the most common yet complicated questions. Here I will explain about how it works and its history and controversy.

Its discovery was made in 1905 and a space probe designed specifically for the proving of this theory confirmed it. On discovery, many other scientists rejected the theory as they thought it was overly far-fetched and worthless. However, over time this theory gained popularity. After all, it still complies with all the normal laws of physics.

The point of the theory is that all time and speed are relative to the person measuring it. For example, if in the USA it is midnight, then in Russia it would probably be noon. Similarly, a person measuring the speed of a tree on the ground would measure it as 0. However, if this person were on a bus instead, he would measure the speed as the inverse of the bus speed. It becomes apparent when you actually try it.

This is an interesting theory as while it is so obvious, it’s also rather strange when applied in the nature of the cosmos. The main issue is black holes. As I explained in my blog about Black Holes, they destroy and break apart the laws of physics. In a black hole, normally space-time breaks. The relativity theory, however, can somehow still stand.



If you throw a teddy bear into a black hole, due to the immense gravity it will stretch and enter the black hole. For the teddy bear, it will enter normally, see the history of the universe, and get sucked into singularity. However, from your point of view the teddy bear will enter extremely slowly, as the teddy bear goes further and further into a zone where time doesn’t exist.

The Relativity Theory doesn’t only apply to matter. It can also apply to waves and energy. For example, light seen from our lightbulb is much closer to us than light from the sun. When you look from your lightbulb, you technically aren’t seeing the lightbulb ‘now’. If you are 3 meters from your lightbulb, you are seeing the lightbulb from 1/300,000th of a millisecond ago. Not a big difference, but when it comes to stars, their distance from our eyes causes a rather large time gap. For example, when we look at Mars, we see Mars from 1.4 seconds ago. When we see the Sun, we see the Sun from 8 minutes ago.

This sparks a theory: if we look farther into space, can we look back into time? The answer is yes. If we look into the Hubble Deep Zone (far zone of the Hubble Space Telescope), then we can see up to 1 billion years ago. In fact, any star you see in there probably no longer exists now. If you look from one edge of the cosmos to the other edge, you might see what happened before the existence of the cosmos. This is an interesting theory, because it is so obvious yet so difficult to understand. I have taken curiosity into this theory, and I will update this blog according to my new knowledge.

P.S: One teddy bear was harmed in the making of this blog.

Thanks for reading! -Nat

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