As the world of science continues to evolve, areas of the unknown are exposed to human life. Albert Einstein was the mastermind behind producing formulae in regards to disproving some of Isaac Newton’s theories on how gravity affected large and distant objects, especially that in relation to mass and energy. Although receiving a Nobel Prize for his work in the photoelectric effect, arguably his greatest development was the area of relativity. The basis of the theory of relativity is that the speed of light is the same for all observers whether they are in motion relative to light sources and that nothing could move at speeds faster than the speed of light. Special relativity then differs to general relativity as it …show more content…
Einstein’s theory of relativity is used widely today as an explanation to why many scenarios occur. A huge part of relativity is the perspective and the way observers notice these objects in motion in inertial frames of reference. Although they are in different positions to view objects in motion at constant velocities, whatever the observers experience are equally correct as each other. As an example, someone who is in a spaceship in outer space and can be seen on earth, may say that his spaceship is at rest and the Earth is rotating due to orbit, however on Earth, an observer may say the spaceship is in motion and the Earth is at rest. Special relativity is only used in special circumstances, hence the name, as it is used when motion is kept uniform or constant, as acceleration is not involved. The theory of relativity applies when an object is in motion with respect to another and therefore technically in the real world there is no such thing as absolute rest, as from the point of view of an observer.
The theory of special relativity, whilst being very controversial has never been disproved and hence stood its ground against ambitious scientists. Whilst it has major use for everyday life, the ideology of the theory being that no two objects or …show more content…
The basis of this theory is that everything in the universe and around us is relative. Among everyday life, relativity is used, including the use of GPS navigational systems and communication networks. Relativity is an advanced development which may not affect day to day life in terms of being able to do anything abnormal. However, Global positioning systems (GPS) are used every day by millions of people as a navigational device. These devices rely heavily on special relativity as we know the speed of light, which we can convert to approximately one foot per nanosecond which is very accurate. By having many satellites with signal transmitters and accurate time devices, the distance between where you are in relation to the satellite can then be worked out, and therefore if you know the time it took from when the satellites emitted a signal to reach you, then you know the distance which is your exact position on Earth. Without Global Positioning Systems (GPS), not only would we have to read hard-copy maps and predict without accuracy how long it takes to get from one place to another but on vehicles of transport such as aircraft, there would be no way of being able to judge or predict distances between main lands and estimating times of