Explanation of special and general relativity

[benzun_1999]

dear reader,

Can anyone explain the theory of relativity to me.

benzun
all for god

 

[Adrian Baker]

A bit of an ask for a Forum isn't it?

There are some fantastic books on the subject in most libraries though - perhaps you could start there?

 

[neutroncount]

Or he could go to the relativity part of the forum.

 

[pmb]

Originally posted by benzun_1999
dear reader,

Can anyone explain the theory of relativity to me.

benzun
all for god

Einstein's theory is online at

http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/
http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf

Special Relativity is based on two postulates

(1) Principle of Relativity - The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference

(2) Light Postulate - The speed of light in an inertial frame of reference is independent of the source

With these posulates a number of consequences follow. I'd post them here but I made several web pages for that purpose so I'll simply point you to those.

Special Relativity - http://www.geocities.com/physics_world/sr.htm
General Relativity - http://www.geocities.com/physics_world/gr.htm

If you have any questions then please feel to ask.

Pete