Two consequences of Special Relativityare a stationary observer will find (1) the length of a fast-moving object is less than if the object was at rest, and (2) the passage of time on the fast-moving object is slower than if the object was at rest However, an observer inside the fast-moving object sees everything inside as their normal length and time passes normally, but all of the lengths in the world outside are shrunk and the outside worlds clocks are running slow. Time and space are relative to the motion of an observer and they are not independent of each other. Time and space are connected to make four-dimensional spacetime (three dimensions for space and one dimension for time). This is not that strange---we often define distances by the time it takes light to travel between two points. For example, one lightyear is the distance light will travel in a year. To talk about an event, you will usually tell where (in space) and when (in time) it happened. The event happened in space time. Another consequence of Special Relativity is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Any object with mass moving near the speed of light would experience an increase in its mass. That mass would approach infinity as it reached light speed and would, therefore, require an infinite amount of energy to accelerate it to light speed. The fastest possible speed any form of information or force (including gravity) can operate is at the speed of light. The three strange effects of Special Relativity (shrinking lengths, slowing time, increasing mass) are ony noticeable at speeds that are greater than about ten percent of the speed of light. Numerous experiments using very high-speed objects have shown that Special Relativity is correct
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:56:38 +0000
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