Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The Rise Of Einsteinian Special Relativity Essay - 1908 Words

In 1905, Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity was proposed. The reason that it is so quot;specialquot; is because it was part of the more complex and extensive Theory of General Relativity, which was published in 1915. His theory reshaped the world of physics when it contradicted all previous laws of motion erected by Galileo and Newton. By mathematically manipulating these previous laws of motion, physicists in the nineteenth century were able to explain such phenomena as the flow of the ocean, the orbits of planets around the sun, the fall of rocks, and the random behavior of molecules in gases. At first, Einstein faced great opposition when he came up with his radical new theory because the previous laws of motion proposed by†¦show more content†¦Newton and Galileo would have assumed that like the speeds of the two cars in the previous example, the velocity of light could be calculated in the same fashion. For example: If a car is moving at a speed of 25 meters per second with its headlights on, what is the speed of the light emitted by the headlights? Newton and Galileo would have thought, quot;25 meters per second for the car plus 299,792,458 meters per second for the speed of light equals 299,792,483 meters per second for the speed of the light emitted by the headlights of the car.quot; This method of thinking would have been acceptable up until 1881. At this time, an experiment took place that would change physics forever. Albert Michelson wanted to test Newton’s idea of variable speeds of light due to the existence of the aether. He knew that since the Earth moves in absolute space, that the speed of light should be measured differently in January than six months later in June when it is moving in an opposite direction in its orbit. This is because the speed of light and Earth would be additive. The difference, according to Newton and Galileo, would only be about 1 part in 10,000 since the earth moves slowly relative to the speed of light. Michelson set up an extremely accurate test using a special device thatShow MoreRelatedRelation Between Science and Religion Essay4079 Words   |  17 Pagessecond half of this century is that historians and philosophers of science have come to realize that this supposed history of warfare is a myth. As Thaxton and Pearcey point out in their recent book The Soul of Science, for over 300 years between the rise of modern science in the 1500’s and the late 1800s the relationship between science and religion can best be described as an alliance. Up until the late 19th century, scientists were typically Christian believers who saw no conflict between their science

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