Could anyone explain it in the most simple of terms?

Originally posted by CompiledMonkey
Could anyone explain it in the most simple of terms?

I think you mean the Einstein versions. There are two theories: special and general relativity. Special relativity is the theory you get when you assume that you cannot detect from physical experiments alone that you are moving at a uniform speed. General relativity is the theory you get when you assume there is no distinction (again from physical experiments alone) between acceleration and being in a gravity-field (Einsteins principle of equivalence).

An excellent explanation is in the books "six easy pieces" and "six not-so-easy pieces" by Feynman.


Greetings,


Han.

In the most general of terms, Relitivity is the Theory stating that anything with a mass can and will not ever acclerate past the speed of light, this is shown by the famous E=mc^2. E=energy, M=mass, C^2=speed of light. Imagine your self in a car, you are about to enter onto a highway, so you start to take speed by pressing the acclerator, as you get faster you need to press the acclerator even more, and the faster you get the more the acclerator need be pressed. This is the same with Relitivity, again in simple terms. There are many more factors that surround it, such as space-time and how they make up each other, and what happens as you reach the speed of light in theory. Einstine's theory states that if someone or something with a mass were to travel past the speed of light, that they would auctually be traveling faster than time it-self. Anyway I would suggest going to the library and picking up some books, and just read them, soon after a while they will start to make some sense. Good luck.


S. Dalal

P.s. sorry if I mispelled Einstine's name, after all I am a physics major not Englisgh, lol

That makes perfect sense. In my university physics class we'll be going over this later. I was curious because I hear people talking about general relativity quite often.