Outline General Relativity
Outlining General Relativity and Space Time Curvature
In the real world, smooth, uniform motion is more an exception than a rule. Technically, any change in speed or direction is called acceleration (or deceleration), which can thus mean slowing down as well as speeding up, or simply a redirection. Ordinarily, an observer in an accelerating frame of reference can perceive its motion. Passengers in a car, for example, fell themselves pressed backward if the car starts suddenly from a dead stop. Their awareness seems to imply that acceleration is absolute, not relative; they need not refer to anything outside their frame of reference to detect their own motion. But if accelerated motion is absolute, it would have to be subject to a different set of …show more content…
The theory predicts that the universe could be expanding from an initially condensed state, a process known as the big bang. For a number of years the big bang theory was contested by an alternative known as the steady state theory, based on the concept of the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Later knowledge gained about the universe, however, has strongly supported the big bang theory as against its competitors. Such findings either were predicted by or did not conflict with relativity theory, thus also further supporting the theory. Perhaps the most critical piece of evidence was the discovery, in 1965, of what is called background radiation. This "sea" of electromagnetic radiation fills the universe at a temperature of about 2.7K (2.7 ºC above absolute zero, which denotes complete lack of energy). Background radiation had been proposed by general relativity as the remaining trace of an early, hot phase of the universe following the big bang. The observed cosmic abundance of helium (20 to 30 percent by weight) is also a required result of the big-bang conditions predicted by relativity
In the real world, smooth, uniform motion is more an exception than a rule. Technically, any change in speed or direction is called acceleration (or deceleration), which can thus mean slowing down as well as speeding up, or simply a redirection. Ordinarily, an observer in an accelerating frame of reference can perceive its motion. Passengers in a car, for example, fell themselves pressed backward if the car starts suddenly from a dead stop. Their awareness seems to imply that acceleration is absolute, not relative; they need not refer to anything outside their frame of reference to detect their own motion. But if accelerated motion is absolute, it would have to be subject to a different set of …show more content…
The theory predicts that the universe could be expanding from an initially condensed state, a process known as the big bang. For a number of years the big bang theory was contested by an alternative known as the steady state theory, based on the concept of the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Later knowledge gained about the universe, however, has strongly supported the big bang theory as against its competitors. Such findings either were predicted by or did not conflict with relativity theory, thus also further supporting the theory. Perhaps the most critical piece of evidence was the discovery, in 1965, of what is called background radiation. This "sea" of electromagnetic radiation fills the universe at a temperature of about 2.7K (2.7 ºC above absolute zero, which denotes complete lack of energy). Background radiation had been proposed by general relativity as the remaining trace of an early, hot phase of the universe following the big bang. The observed cosmic abundance of helium (20 to 30 percent by weight) is also a required result of the big-bang conditions predicted by relativity