Day #50 What is General Relativity? It is a theory that relates gravity to space and time. Space and time are interwoven, or they make up something called space-time. Imagine stretching a piece of space-time. What will happen to the clocks within that piece? They will run faster than usual. The opposite will happen if you compress it. Now you might be thinking, What can possibly distort space-time?. The answer is mass. Imagine space-time as a big net. What happens if you drop a bowling ball onto it? Lets assume the fibers dont break. The nets spacing will be wide if its far away from the ball, and vice versa. So what happens after all that distortion? First, a clock close to the massive body runs slower than a clock thats quite far away. Second, the distorted space-time creates gravity. Imagine dropping a baseball onto the same net. If the small ball stays on the net, it will probably move to where the bowling ball is. We can discuss more things about this theory, but you wouldnt believe me because I might sound too theoretical. What if there are no forces acting on objects (dont think Newtonian here)? What if they are only affected by the space-time distorted by the Earth? Check this out. youtube/watch?v=E43-CfukEgs
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 06:48:43 +0000
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