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6. The Special and General Theories of Relativity
The theory of relativity is a theory
that deals with the motion of objects when their speed is close to
the speed of light
c=3×108m/sec.
It turns out that Newton's second law ceases to be correct as speeds of objects approach the
speed of light
and must be modified.
The special theory of relativity
only deals with the motion of objects as seen from
inertial frames.
The general theory of relativity
extends it to cover
non-inertial frames as well.
We will only be learning about the
special theory of relativity
in this course because the
general theory of relativity
is super-duper difficult.
(Einstein invented the
special theory of relativity in 1905.
It took him 10 more years to come up with the
general theory of relativity.)
| Speeds of objects |
Inertial Frames |
Non-Inertial Frames |
much slower than
c=3×108m/sec
|
Newton's Laws
|
Newton's Laws + Fake Forces
|
close to
c=3×108m/sec
|
Special Theory of Relativity
(This is "relatively" easy to understand.)
|
General Theory of Relativity
(You need to know this to understand black holes,
worm holes, and other fancy stuff you see on Star Trek.)
|
| 
