LONG QUIZ

• Gravity


  The force that pulls objects with mass towards each other
• Albert Einstein


  • German mathematician and physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity
  • Generally considered as the most influential physicist of the 20th century
  • Known for his mathematical equation about mass and energy
• Theory of General Relativity


  A gravitational theory that Albert Einstein worked on from 1907 to 1915, which states that spacetime is distorted by masses, which causes the gravitational effect between them to be observed
• How general relativity solved the conflict between Newtonian Mechanics and Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory

  1. Newtonian mechanics tells that the measures speed of light should depend on the motion of the observer

  2. Maxwell's electromagnetic theory tells that the value of the speed of light is constant

  3. Theory of special relativity tells that the speed of light is constant in all frames of reference

  4. General relativity solves this conflict by providing a unified model that stays consistent with both the Newtonian mechanics as well as Maxwell's electromagnetic theory
• Postulate of Special Relativity


  Albert Einstein's proposal about the principle of relativity, which he believed to be fundamental
• Postulates of Special Relativity


  • Principle of Relativity: Laws of physics are the same in any inertial frame of reference, experiments yield identical results in stationary or moving frames, impossible to distinguish between stationary and moving frames internally
  • Principle of Constant Speed: Speed of light in a vacuum is always constant (c = 3 x 10^8 m/s), light's speed remains unchanged regardless of observer or light source motion
• In 1905, Albert Einstein and Henri Poincaré independently derived the complete Lorentz transformation, which describes how time and space measurements change for observers in different inertial frames
• Relativity of Simultaneity


  It is impossible to say two events occur at the same time if they are separated in space, different reference frames will assign different times to the events, except in the case of motion being exactly perpendicular to the line connecting the events
• Time Dilation


  Time moves differently for different observers in the same inertial frame (in which there is no acceleration between them)
• Length Contraction


  A moving object's length is measured to be shorter than its proper length, which is the length as measured in the object's own rest frame
• Mass


  The amount of material an object contains, which changes depending on the object
• Energy Equivalence


  All objects having mass, or massive objects, have a corresponding intrinsic energy, even when they are stationary
• Physicists thought there was no limit to how fast an object could travel, but the faster an object travels, the more massive it becomes
• Mercury's orbital ellipse is predicted to shift an additional 1° every two billion years as a result of previously unaccounted for effects of general relativity
• Gravitational Bending of Light


  A gravitational lens is matter, such as a cluster of galaxies or a point particle, that bends light from a distant source as it travels toward an observer, as described by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity
• Black Holes


  Huge concentrations of matter packed into very tiny spaces, where gravity just beneath the event horizon is strong enough that nothing – not even light – can escape