Relativity

Abstract

EINSTEIN PROPOSED two theories of relativity at the start of the twentieth century which painted a picture of the world quite at odds with our intuition regarding the nature of space and time. The two theories are known as the Special Theory and the General Theory. The Special Theory essentially concerns the velocity of light and the mathematics is fairly easy to understand even though the outcomes are quite startling. The General Theory concerns gravitation and the mathematics behind it is considered rather difficult (postgraduate in these dumbed-down days I am sure). The effects of both theories differ little from the traditional predictions of Newton except in extreme circumstances. Nevertheless, in those extreme circumstances all experiments have indicated that they are correct. This lecture gives a reasonable presentation of the Special Theory and explains phenomenon such as time and space contraction. It also gives just a glimpse of the General Theory which lies behind such things as Black Holes.