Esra Petursson

1
Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity

• Esra Petursson
• Brittany Foreman
• Alan deLevie

2
What is it??

• The theory describes motion of particles moving
  at close to the speed of light.
• Two postulates of special relativity formed
  Einsteins theory
• 1. The laws of physics are the same for all
  observers in uniform motion relative to one
  another.
• 2. The speed of light in a vacuum is the same
  for all observers, regardless of their relative
  motion or of the motion of the source of light.

3
What is it?? (cont.)

• Its common experience to use three coordinate
  points of reference to locate an object.
• Einstein added a fourth dimension Space-time.
• The theory of special relativity is the correct
  description of motion of relativistic objects.
  (Objects that travel at a significant fraction of
  the speed of light.)

4
Before Einsteins Theory

• People thought time to be absolute, (like one big
  clock for the entire universe)
• They thought 1 hour on Earth equaled 1 hour on
  Mars or 1 hour in another galaxy.
• In 1881, A. Michelson conducted experiment that
  proved the speed of light was always the same
  which aided Einstein in developing his theories.

5
Before Einsteins Theory (cont.)

• Newton thought that if the sun suddenly
  disappeared, the planets would immediately fly
  off tangentially to their orbit.
• Einstein knew that the suns rays took 8 minutes
  to travel to Earth.
• Newtons idea conflicted with the notion that
  nothing traveled faster than the speed of light.
• As a result, Einstein figured out that the
  darkness from the Suns disappearance would reach
  Earth way before the planet traveled off the
  trajectory.

6
The Impact of the Theory on Society

• The most famous equation Emc2 (energy equals
  mass times the velocity of light squared) was
  developed.
• According to this equation, any given amount of
  mass is equivalent to a certain amount of energy.
• Einstein applied the equation to gravitational
  fields and he derived the curved space-time
  continuum which depicts dimensions of space and
  time as two-dimensional surfaces.

7
The Impact of the Theory on Society (cont.)

• Experiments built upon relativity
• Twin paradox (someone leaves Earth and comes back
  and is less aged than their twin.)
• Velocities do not combine with addition, but by
  relativistic velocity addition formula.
• Theory led to building of a neutrino detector in
  Antarctica.
• Emc2 is a bedrock of nuclear physics. Things
  such as the atomic bomb and nuclear energy were
  developed.