ToddW

__ The Theory of Relativity __ **

Background Information ** Albert Einstein created the Theory of relativity in the year 1915. He was a very young scientist and believed that he could change the world and the way it thinks.There are two essential documents that are about this theory and Albert created the most important of the two. The theory of relativity is based on the thought that all forms of motion relative to other objects in motion. That means that objects move because of one another. The reason Einstein created this theory is to identify the wrong thoughts about the laws of relativity and the laws of gravity. Also, Einstein did this to prove that he was intelligent enough to identify these flaws and eventually to make a name for himself. Newton's laws state that all forces are due to change in the acceleration of objects. Einstein didnt think that this was right, so he set a mission for himself to find the flaws about newton's laws. Einstein split the theory into two categories. These categories were special and general relativity. Special relativity shows the impacts of inertial frames of reference of motion; this shows that physical law is the same for every inertial frame. talks about gravity compared to other physics concepts. General relativity is the combination of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation and ideas created by Einstein. This theory is very difficult to fully understand, and is still trying to be interpreted

**Cosmology** A major influence by Einstein's theory of relativity was the field of cosmology. Cosmology is the effect of gravity on the universe as a whole. When the theory was first created no one had an idea what a break through he actually made. His theory explained also had to deal with how black holes were created in space. As Einstein’s theory explains is that whenever a star is about to die it must give off its nuclear fuel. According to the theory when a dying star reaches a mass 3 times greater then the sun, the star cannot withstand any more pressure which then causes it to collapse creating a black hole. Ironically, Einstein himself did not believe in the existence of black holes, even though they were predicted by his theory (Lightman 1). Another science field that was greatly impacted by the theory of relativity was physics. Albert Einstein’s theory describes some events that most people find a hard time even believing. His theories explain the interaction between time and space, matter, and energy. For example one person can observe that 2 events happen at the same time, but another person can observe that the same 2 events occur at totally different times. His theory is showing that matter as the ability to turn into energy, and energy has the ability to turn into matter. They are two of the "foundation blocks" upon which modern physics were built on (Dine 1).
 * Physics**

GPS The theory of relativity is used by many on a day-to-day basis without even knowing it. For example all GPS's are run by using the rules of relativity. Everytime someone turns on a GPS, relativity equations are being applied to show you your correct position and time. Many sources of transportation highly depend on this system. The military uses GPS for nearly every vehicle. Without the theory of relativity this piece of technology would not be reliable. The GPS is another way to prove that Einstein was correct. (Hans Arora)

Bibliography Arora, Hans. "Einstein's Theory of Relativity: Implacations Beyond Science? - Science." __Einstein's Theory of Relativity: Implacations BeyondScience? - Science__. 20 Oct. 2008. Science in Society. 27 Jan. 2009 http://scienceinsociety.northwestern.edu/content/articles/2008/research-digest/student-papers/einstein/einstein2019s-theory-of-relativity-implications-beyond-science. Dine, Michael. "World Book at NASA." __Relativity__. 20 Jan. 2009 . Edemariam, Aida. " Relativity for dummies | Education | The Guardian ." __Latest news, sport, business, comment andreviewsfromtheGuardian____guardian.co.uk__. 6 Jan. 2005. 27 Jan. 2009 .

Lightman, Alan. "NOVA | Einstein's Big Idea | Relativity (Lightman Essay) | PBS." __PBS__. 27 Jan. 2009 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/relativity/. "Time Traveler." __Science Programming Online and In Air__. Nova. 27 Jan. 2009 <  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein   >

I chose all these websites because they all possessed information that can allow people of all knowledge levels to understand and further add to their knowledge about the theory of relativity. They all gave good explantions about how the thory affects cosmology, physics, and global positioning devices.