The document discusses Albert Einstein's theories of special and general relativity. Special relativity introduced concepts like the constancy of the speed of light and reference frames. General relativity holds that gravity is not a force but a consequence of objects warping the geometry of spacetime. It predicts phenomena like light deflection near massive objects and gravitational time dilation, which were later confirmed. The document also provides background on the Michelson-Morley experiment and quotes from Einstein and Hawking about the implications of relativity theory.

1. RELATIVITY
THEORY
(OSCAR ALONSO)

2. Special Relativity Theory
 Introduction:
 Einstein published this theory in 1905.
 Galileo and Newton had a similar conception of
the theory.
 Relative space is some movable dimension or
measure of the absolute spaces; which our
senses determine by its position to bodies

3. THE CONSTANCY OF THE SPEED
OF LIGHT
 What is waving?
 A rough analogy is to a sound wave travelling
through the air. The air is the medium and
oscillations of the molecules of the air are what is
"waving."
 Galileo attempted to measure the speed of light
around 1600.

4.  The Michelson-Morley Experiment
 Before we turn to the experiment itself we will
consider a "race" between two swimmers.
 Each swimmer swims the same distance away
from the raft, to the markers, and then swim
back to the raft. Now the raft and markers are
being towed to the left.

6.  Einstein "Explains" the Michelson-Morley
Experiment
 When Einstein was 16, in 1895, he asked himself
an interesting question
 He continued to work on this question for 10
years

7. THE PARABLE OF THE SURVEYORS
 In this section we do a diversion: a fairy tale.

8. SPACETIME
• Daytime and nighttime frames, there was a
constant for the position of a particular place in
the kingdom relative to the town square:
• E2
night + (k N)2
night = E2
day + (k N)2
day
• In the section before that Sue and Lou were
observing the same sphere of light expanding
outwards and saw that here too there was a
constant:
• x2
Lou + y2
Lou - (c t)2
Lou = x2
Sue + y2
Sue - (c t)2
Sue

9. Theory of
General
Relativity
(Mario Poza)

10. What is General relativity?
 Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity is one
of the towering achievements of 20th-century
physics. Published in 1916, it explains that what
we perceive as the force of gravity in fact arises
from the curvature of space and time.

11. What is General relativity?
• Einstein proposed that objects such as the sun and the Earth
change this geometry. In the presence of matter and energy it
can evolve, stretch and warp, forming ridges, mountains and
valleys that cause bodies moving through it to zigzag and
curve. So although Earth appears to be pulled towards the sun
by gravity, there is no such force. It is simply the geometry of
space-time around the sun telling Earth how to move.
• The general theory of relativity has far-reaching consequences.
It not only explains the motion of the planets; it can also
describe the history and expansion of the universe, the physics
of black holes and the bending of light from distant stars and
galaxies.

12. According to the General theory
 Matter causes space to curve. It is posited that
gravitation is not a force, as understood by
Newtonian physics, but a curved field (an area
of space under the influence of a force) in the
space-time continuum that is actually created
by the presence of mass.

13. How this could be tested?
 By the deflection of starlight traveling near the
sun; he correctly asserted that light deflection
would be twice that expected by Newton's laws.
This theory also explained why the light from stars
in a strong gravitational field was closer to the
red end of the spectrum than those in a weaker
one.

14. Quotes about relativity:
• When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit
on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity. (Einstein)
• For years, my early work with Roger Penrose seemed to be a disaster for
science. It showed that the universe must have begun with a singularity, if
Einstein's general theory of relativity is correct. That appeared to indicate
that science could not predict how the universe would begin.
(Stephen Hawking)
• Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general
theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so
much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.
(Stephen Hawking)
•

15. Interesting facts about Einstein
 Einstein Failed his University Entrance Exam, and
had to reapply a year later.
 Einstein was famous
for having bad memory. He could not remember
names, dates and phone numbers.
 Einstein, Darwin, Allan Poe & Saddam Hussein,
all married their first cousins.
 Austrian physicist Friedrich Hasenohrl published
the basic equation E = mc2 a year before
Einstein did.