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The Special Theory of Relativity

 Hey, so last time around we talked about the general theory of relativity which is the most famous theory of all time as I mentioned in my previous blog. This time around, we are going to talk about the Special Theory of Relativity which came out earlier than the general theory of relativity but wasn't recognized as much as the general theory as it was more complex, about a more compound topic which is light and time. I believe as the general theory of relativity was easier to understand, it became more popular than the Special Theory of relativity. Well, what is the special theory of relativity? Einstein told everyone that there is no such thing known as absolute motion or absolute rest. Imagine that you, my friend are on a train and that train is moving in a periodic motion, you think that the train is moving and you are at rest, right? No, you are wrong, you are moving relative to the train and the train is moving relative to the Earth which is moving relative to the sun taking rounds of the milky way galaxy and the sun is moving relative to the milky way galaxy. So, basically everything is in motion relative to each other, which means no one is at absolute rest. Let's go back to the train. The train is moving at a periodic motion, you are sitting in the middle, lightning stroke at point A and point B (point A being on one end of the train and point B being on the other end). The lightning stroke at point A and B simultaneously. But you would notice that lightning stroke at point B first and point A after because you are moving away from point A and moving towards point B. Time slows down for the things that move close to the speed of light and completely stops for things moving at the speed of light. So if anything is faster than the speed of light, it would go back in time, right? Yes and that my friends is time travel but it is not possible because to our sense nothing in this universe can be faster than the speed of light. The phenomenon of time slowing down for objects moving close to the speed of light is known as Time Dilation. When you are near a Black Hole, time slows down because it stretches the fabric of spacetime. Which brings me to my next point which is that Einstein suggested that we take the universe and time as 1 whole unit and not different units, and that is why it's called spacetime. Oh! Also that when things are moving close to the speed of light, their size decreases. Yup, that's correct! This Phenomenon of decreasing in size due to travelling close to the speed of light is known as Length Contraction. Einstein used a few clock experiments to show Time Dilation. Like imagine a clock moving at let's say 10km/h and another clock is moving close to the speed of light. You would notice that time is moving slower for the clock moving close to the speed of light, TIME DILATION! All right, that is it for today, I know it is short because it is the Special Theory and we are not talking maths here. Einstein truly is a generational physicist, his theories literally turned the world of physics upside down and opened the door to quantum physics. His theories are literally everything in physics nowadays, whether we notice it or not.

By, Deeparsh Bhanot

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