Einstein's Relativitätstheorie - Das Geheimnis von Raum und Zeit Dokumentation

With his theory of

relativit

y he confused the structure of classical physical laws and created a completely new vision of the world. More than 100 years ago, two physicists, Robert Michael John and Edward Molly, stumbled upon a surprising phenomenon while trying to measure the speed of physics. light At that time it was believed that there was an ETR in the cosmos, we influenced the movement of light rays. Depending on the direction from which the photons arrive at Earth, their speeds should be different, but it doesn't matter which direction the two scientists say. When kicking their device, the speed of light was always the same, they believed they had measured incorrectly because the fact that light only has one speed contradicted the physics of the time.

The method of measuring speed is based on the fact that one and the. The same movement can be perceived at different speeds depending on the observer's point of view. This is how a standing observer sees an airplane rapidly passing by him. While a passenger in a plane flying parallel, the machine was slow only due to its own motion. For the movement of light, the law was also assumed that velocities are relative and depend on the state of motion of the observer. It was thought that observing at rest would result in a higher speed of light and therefore a longer distance than photons would also be measured. travel in a given unit of time than an observer moving relative to the rays, but if not only one has a unique speed, that is, the same speed for both observers, then the two measured distances cannot have different lengths in The next years. , it was unequivocally confirmed that light only has a speed of 299.1792 kilometers per second and always propagates at the same speed, regardless of whether the observer with his measuring device is stationary or moving.

This seemed unnatural and where was the formula. For the calculation of speeds, the speed c is the distance in time, the formula remains indisputable, but precisely because c is the value of the speed it is variable, while the unit of measurement of distance, the meter, never changes and time always passes at the same speed, it takes one second Always one second the length of the path, that is, the distance traveled in space and time, were considered fixed and variable quantities, but due to the absolute speed of light is always the same so the other two The parameters of the equation space and time must be variables, space and time are not those fixed natural constants that they had been thought to be for thousands of years.

Einstein was willing to question the classical definition of space and time. It is not a metaphysical concept but simply what a clock measures, a periodic sequence of fixed units in the form of hours, minutes and seconds under a clock, you do not necessarily have to imagine a mechanical device - any periodic process can be a clock - a photo that goes back and forth between two mirrors also represents a clock because it behaves as if the pendulum were a horror and because light the clock only knows a single speed and is very precise so that you can make extremely precise measurements, for example by shooting astronomers to turn off the laser light to measure the distance from the Earth to the Moon based on the time the beam needs to travel back and forth.

The ray of light moves like the ticking of a clock pendulum from side to side, up and down. The reader fries himself on Monday and travels back to Earth. Scientists always measure exactly the same time, 1.3 seconds in each direction, but what is observed by an astronaut in a spaceship on Earth and now, as he flies past, he encounters a phenomenon. strange for him: the light does not move vertically up and down, but in a zigzag. This means that the laser beam has to travel a longer distance than for the scientist on Earth. If the two distances are compared, the difference is clearly seen for the stationary observer.

On Earth the path is shorter for the observer who spends more time in the spacecraft and since light only has one speed, it cannot make up the difference. Therefore, the longer path requires more time, so the astronaut flies. The photon returns. For him, the time between the Earth and the Moon is longer, the period lasts longer before his eyes, the light oscillates more slowly. It can be said, seen from the spacecraft, that the time between the Earth and the Moon passes more slowly than the time on board. That was a discovery that marked an era. If, as an observer, I move relative to another reference frame, then I measure a slowdown of time within the observed frame.

Simply put, the conclusion is that moving clocks run slower than indoor clocks. its rest system, that is, time is lengthened. This is the first principle of the theory of

relativit

y. The phenomenon is called time dilation. Einstein did not have the opportunity to practically demonstrate deceleration at that time. in which experiments could be carried out with natural quantities, such as the speed of light, of more than a billion kilometers per hour. His experiments were largely done in his head, rather than what he said himself. The laboratory was the paper and on this businessman he planned to carry out experiments that.

It made him realize another special feature of nature, as shown by the following example in our solar system: when the sun radiates its light rays in all directions at the same time and these are reflected, for example, as soon as they reach the earth orbit. , then it is logical that for a stationary observer all the photons return to the center at the same time within the solar system, he sees the photons coming and going synchronously, but it also influences whether the observer is at rest. relative to the system or if the sun is moving and its planets are not moving rigidly to a place around the cosmos its lawn at around 900 thousand kilometers per hour through the Milky Way, such an observer sees the system passing by, then observed that all the photons are emitted by the sun at the same time, but they no longer run synchronously backwards they no longer arrive at the center at the same time there is a difference between the vertical and horizontal photons the vertical photons move inwards zigzag according to the same principle that in the Earth-Moon system, that is, its path is longer than in the pipe system and its time passes more slowly, the horizontal photons need even more time, but their path must therefore be even longer and Yes In fact, if you compare the two distances, you can see that the path of the horizontal photons is longer than the path of the vertical photons, but that is paradoxical and cannot be because both observers of the rest within the solar system are looking at the same event as the one that moves outside.

The encounter of photons is a process and it is impossible for it to be perceived differently. Therefore, even in a moving system, all the photons must be back at the center at the same time. How can I solve this problem? Since light only knows one speed, the only possibility is to shorten the path of the horizontal photons. To do this, the circle must be deformed and reduced until it forms an ellipse. different lengths become equal and all the photons move synchronously again land again at the same time on the penny this thought experiment leads a stone to the surprising realization that a moving object shrinks, in our case the solar system becomes shorter in the direction of motion from this He derived his second principle: moving objects contract.

This so-called length contraction never occurs alone. Time and space are always affected at the same time. Time and length contraction always arise together. Only 50 years after the discovery of it. Relativistic phenomena were confirmed experimentally for the first time. One of the newly developed atomic clocks was mounted on an airplane to move them, the scientists undertook a flight of several hours to measure the current dilation effect using radio signals. They come into contact with a second one that remained motionless on the ground. When the two children were compared at the end, there was actually a time difference of several billionths of a second due to the movement, time had lengthened and flowed more slowly.

Due to the low flight speed, the differences were minimal. While the scientists would have flown with a much faster spacecraft, the time difference would have been greater. The clocks on board would have run much slower than those on board. nation left on earth affects every process in the moving system, all processes in human body slow down, heart beats slowly, every movement also slows down, even speech slows down, even aging process slows down because smaller particles like As electrons move more slowly, matter itself is affected. Therefore, an old hourglass slows down by the same factor. At the same time, all objects, including the spacecraft, slow down the closer their motion approaches the speed of light.

The more time would shorten, if the astronauts had returned to Earth after years, they would find that their fellow men had aged faster than themselves, that is, the effect of the twin paradox of time things that the astronaut. The moving spacecraft has aged more slowly than its twin brother left behind on Earth. However, the astronauts lived the time quite normally, just like their companions who stayed on Earth, for them everything was always the same. The time difference remains the same. and can be measured after return. The contraction in length disappears, but as the motion slows, the spacecraft regains its original length.

Therefore, space and time are not the natural constants for them. We maintain them, their changes occur with each movement. , the fact that we cannot notice them in everyday life is because our speeds are too slow, even if they are high for us. The effects only manifest themselves at ten percent of the speed of light. But even the fastest ones. The plane is 300,000 times slower than light. Physicist Albert Einstein encountered strange natural phenomena at the beginning of the 20th century in his theory of relativity and summarized them in two principles: first, delegation of time, moving clocks slow down by two lengths.

Contraction, moving bodies shrink With each movement there is a slowing down of time and a shrinking of the bodies. However, the effects are so small that we do not notice them in everyday life, even during fast movements. They are too slow. 20 Phenomena only occur from ten percent of the form of light. That is, 30,000 times faster than the fastest plane, but time and space are not only affected by body mass. The body changes with movement. speed and Einstein had discovered that mass can be converted into energy. The development of the atomic bomb was a consequence of this knowledge.

During the explosion, matter is transformed into energy. It is a similar process that also takes place inside the sun. Einstein's theory of relativity is based on a simple but surprising fact: light travels approximately 299.1792 kilometers at a single, constant speed per second, regardless of whether an observer observes it with his measuring device. Whether stationary or moving, the speed of light always has the same value. This has surprising consequences because if light is the same speed for all observers, then logically no one can reach the speed of light. This means the fastest movement possible. There is no body in the entire universe that can be faster than light.

This is surprising, one might assume that any speed should be possible, but the limitation lies in the nature of the body itself. We know that every body has a tendency to remain. in the state of motion it is currently in. This principle of inertia allows, for example, a satellite to rotate infinitely around the Earth until an external force acts on it and causes it to complete its journey. Then the energy is supplied, the amount of. The energy must be large enough to overcome its inertia or the resulting resistance, the strength of this resistance depends on the mass.

The greater the mass, the greater the resistance and the more energy must be used. Therefore, the astronaut and the satellite come with a small propulsion, while a larger mass, such as that of a spacecraft, requires a lot of power to experience the same acceleration, but no matter how much energy is supplied to the shuttle, it never arrived. To be accelerated to the speed of light, the resistance of its mass becomes so great at some point that it can no longer be overcome, but that means that the resistance grows, the faster the rocket flies, the greater the mass and the resistance connected, so the mass must also increase.

It can be said that the faster the movement of a body, the greater its mass, this effect is called relativistic.Mass increase only becomes evident at very high speeds and can only be perceived in a system that passes beyond the observer, as the following example shows. Asteroids that have been circulating through our solar system for billions of years repeatedly cross the planet. orbits of planets and planets that fall on whose surface, the faster these small celestial bodies are and the more mass they have, the greater the damage they cause. The speed and mass of the asteroid determine the range of the astronaut passing through the event. at a very high speed at the moment of impact The catastrophe appears different to him the asteroid moves more slowly the reason is the moment when the nation first beginning then time passes more slowly in a system when the observer moves rapidly more beyond it seen from the spacecraft the asteroid falls as in However, the damage it causes is the same as at normal speed.

If the damage results from the speed and mass of the asteroid, then the mass must be greater if it falls more slowly, meaning when it is seen. Due to the spacecraft's motion system, the mass of the asteroid is greater. As for an observer of the planet's immune system, the mass of a body is not constant, it increases with the speed of movement, so a third found a stone Natural phenomenon: relativistic masses are observed in modern particle accelerators, where charged particles are generated in the depths of the Earth. A circular orbit accelerates to high speeds when colliding with people flying in opposite directions;

Its mass can be determined near the speed of light. , the mass increases about 40,000 times and at the speed of light it would be infinitely large. When Einstein understood this phenomenon through calculations, it turned out that it is nothing more than a special form of energy increase. , like the one used to set a rocket in motion, is not lost, but rather transferred to its mass. As a result, the mass increases, although the number of atoms that compose it remains unchanged, the tongue with it. mass is produced solely through increased nec. However, if increasing mass is a form of increasing energy, then mass itself must also be a form of energy.

Einstein had made a fundamental discovery of nature: mass and energy are equivalent. Mathematically, this energy is obtained by multiplying the mass by the square of the speed of light. It is equal to m c squared. Einstein's famous formula. The size of the energy in question here is impressive. Even if a body is not moving, it has one kilogram of its mass in rest energy of 100 billion rolls, which is a number with 17 0, this amount of energy is converted into work output, so that the weight of eight cubic meters of water can be lifted, eight cubic kilometers of water corresponding to the amount of an average-sized lake in the measure This force, the weight that the lake has on Libra contributes is 8000 billion kilograms almost incredible but with the energy contained in a single kilogram of rest mass in a lake that has 20 km long, two kilometers wide and on average 200 meters deep and one kilometer high.

At first it was not at all clear how this equivalence between mass and energy was achieved. To understand energy, people thought it was just a theoretical possibility and did not take it particularly seriously until atomic physicists discovered that the almost smallest particles that make up matter, forming The protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus are bound together. by a strong force. This bonding force corresponds to a certain amount of energy. If two atomic nuclei combine, a small part of this binding energy can be released and escape as radiation. Now the formula is equal to m c squared was no longer just a gray theory, but was found in processes in nature.

Inside our sun, hydrogen atoms fuse and form helium nuclei; The energy released in the process is released in the form of photons. Now we can finally explain why our Sun shines. The nuclear fission process used in the atomic bomb is similar. Due to its destructive power we can immediately understand how much energy is contained in matter. used in nuclear power plants With the implementation of the theory, Einstein's special theory of relativity has been introduced into our daily lives and thus proves its accuracy, even if it describes the world differently from how we experience it and therefore , it seems abstract and difficult. understand The fact that light travels at a single, constant speed was the starting point for physicist Albert Einstein to make surprising insights into the nature of nature.

He had recognized that the world is not what it seems, its properties remain hidden from us. They only become visible. A spacecraft could fly at very high speeds, almost the speed of light. A world full of strange physical phenomena would open up to the astronauts when they passed by a planet whose surface was an asteroid field. For example, seeing the impact as if it occurred in slow motion, even if the asteroid were very slow and almost soft when colliding with the planet, the destruction would be enormous, of the same magnitude as it can be at normal speed.

He came to the conclusion that his mass has increased considerably. Furthermore, astronauts see passing celestial bodies noticeably differently, although their original spherical shapes are reduced to ibsen, these physical phenomena are real, but are only shown to fast-flying astronauts. An observer who remains motionless on the planet does not see them. The asteroid hits the surface at normal speed. For him, the planet changes its spherical shape again and its mass becomes shorter. Its mass has increased with the speed of movement and the astronaut's clock on board runs slower than his own clock on the ground. Albert Einstein was the first to recognize that time period and mass are not the rigid natural constants we thought.

He described the changes in three simple principles: the first deals with time and says: moving clocks go slower than round ones. This means that for an observer time passes more slowly in that system that passes by him while nothing changes for him. This phenomenon is called time dilation. At the same time, matter is affected in such a way that moving bodies contract. This is the second relativistic effect, the so-called length contraction. The third change is the increase in mass. Bodies in motion increase with speed. Einstein describes that these relativistic effects only occur in systems that move relative to each other, such as the planet and the spacecraft, both observers, the visitors to Mars and the astronaut in the spacecraft, are connected to their own reference frame.

They are systems that are defined by the fact that no external forces act on them and therefore there is weightlessness inside them. They are autonomous systems, the so-called social systems. A spaceship orbiting the Earth seems to be one of these. In social systems, all . The bodies inside do not weigh, they float in a straight line and with a constant speed, evidently they are not affected by any external force, but only apparently for a longer period of time. If the two balls separate, the one closest to the Earth reaches the other. which moves away faster because it has a slightly shorter orbit.

The reason is the Earth's gravity, which acts from the outside, so the interior of the spacecraft is no longer completely weightless when this effect occurs. It's also very small, so. The spaceship is not a perfect social system for Einstein's theory of relativity. This creates a problem because it is based on the fact that there are completely force-free initial systems. How far would the shuttle have to go from Earth to do this? Escape from its gravity? Gravity decreases with the square of the distance, but still acts infinitely far away. It is covered by the much stronger pull of the sun and the solar system is captivated by the even stronger gravity of the Milky Way.

Although its nucleus is 30 thousand light years away from the galaxies, it affects neighboring galaxies, which is why they form clusters of galaxies that interact with other clusters even at a distance of many billions of light years to the edge of the universe, all together they even influence the expansion of the cosmos, so there is no place in the entire universe that is free of gravity, so a perfect social system is not possible anywhere and hence the special theory of relativity It is only applicable to a limited extent. who had to generalize his theory to be able to explain changes in time, space and mass even when they are under the effect of gravity.

What is gravity? Should we imagine gravity somewhat naively as invisible threads like the body downwards? When you fall, gravity seems to act. You don't feel your own weight inside a plane that simulates free fall. This became clear as the machine moved. For a short time, the forces moved freely, the would-be astronauts began to float. They move free of any heavy forces, like the balls on the spaceship that is far from Earth somewhere in the depths of space. Free fall and weightlessness seem to be the same thing and a stone intersects. Another correspondence is revealed when the shuttle is.

Accelerate as the spaceship gets faster. Due to their inertia, the balls retain their previous state of motion. The ship picked up balls, so the ground and the balls get closer and faster as the shuttle continues to be propelled. However, without looking outside, one could also think that the spaceship is stationary on Earth and the balls fall to the ground as if attracted by gravity. Acceleration and gravity also seem to be related. This coincidence gave the stone the idea that it was moving. the first principle of his special theory of relativity To generalize, he replaced clocks that went slower with clocks that went slower under the influence of gravity, so he found a first partial solution.

The new principle could now be applied to every situation. In practical terms, this means that our life in the valley goes slower than on the top of a mountain, time runs slower the closer we are to the center of the earth, percent at sea level, we can enjoy a little our holidays. A fraction of a second longer than on the top of a mountain. For the mountaineer, time runs a little faster. To a lesser extent, this also applies to people. Those at the top of a tower are also a little faster for you. Passersby who pass under them on the street even their heads age a little faster than their feet because they are further from the center of the earth.

The differences are small. They are just a small celestial body with relatively low attraction. The effects are still large enough to play a role in reality. GPS satellites would provide incorrect data if the slightly slower passage of time on Earth compared to orbit at an altitude of 25,000 kilometers was not taken into account. by the great celestial bodies was another great discovery, but with the result that new inconsistencies arise. Once again, it is light that influences the idea of ​​space and time. Due to the constant speed, light photons always travel the same distance. given unit of time The absolute speed of light does not allow for different lengths.

However, if the masses of large celestial bodies cause time to pass more slowly near them, then photons have more time to scatter as they approach them. The resulting greater distance means greater speed. But there is only one speed of light, so distances of different lengths are impossible. A conceivable solution to the contradiction would be to let the space shrink. In this sense, Einstein also generalized speed. second principle of his special theory of relativity: bodies in motion contract under the influence of gravity now they contract all questions resolved the gravity of the body contracts and slows down the movement of clocks with the two new principles can be explained all imaginable situations in nature and described However, the secret of gravity has not yet been completely revealed because when bodies approach large masses, their contraction creates a new problem with surprising consequences, for example, if rules are placed inside the Earth to measure its diameter.

They shrink because they are subject to gravity, this means that more rulers fit inside them and a larger diameter is calculated than would be expected based on the circumference of the earth, what this means is that there is more space inside our planet . In fact, Stone concluded that near a large celestial body the volume within a spatial area increases and, therefore, the geometry of space. In a nutshell, you can say that space increases. But how do you imagine where there is room for more space? We cannot imagine a three-dimensional space in which there is more space thanwhat we assume.

That is why we simplify the phenomenon into a two-dimensional model. as a symbol of space, if space is supposed to get bigger, expand and curve. The curvature creates the necessary space. With this solution, Einstein created a new vision of the nature of nature. He says that large masses are like celestial masses. bodies change space, or to put it simply he explains gravity as the crowning glory of the tree. This vision fundamentally changes our understanding of nature. Newton's classical law of gravity was based on the assumption that celestial bodies create a gravitational field by attracting all bodies. down.

This was replaced by the idea of ​​the body in the curvature of space-time. Like a descending funnel, the Earth's orbit of an object like the GPS satellite can be understood as a movement influenced by the curvature of space. Physically, the satellite is a free-falling body that moves uniformly and straight through the gravitational funnel. However, the curvature of space reminds him to move in a straight line. The same goes for planets, which also fall freely due to gravity. Curvature of space However, with this explanation, the mystery of Mercury could now be solved. The special thing is that when it is close to the Sun, the planet moves deeper into the funnel, causing its orbit to shift by a few degrees.

The movement of the planet so that it did not close but rather drew the shape of a whole. This could be done with the theory of Isaac Newton, who had formulated the classical law of gravity 250 years before, it cannot be explained only with Einstein's general theory of relativity. According to Newton, the justification that the cooling of space directs light rays is also not possible, since photons have no mass and therefore cannot be influenced gravitationally. The so-called diffraction of light was practically demonstrated for the first time in 1919 by a solar eclipse. The moon obscures the sun for a few minutes, the stars behind it become visible so their positions can be measured and, in fact, they were slightly displaced close to the sun.

Einstein had correctly calculated their positions and the magnitude of their displacement in advance. . Light is bent depending on the mass of the sun, and if it moves in a curved path, an observer on Earth adopts an apparent position that is not identical to the real one. A stone predicts curves in space that will be even more extreme. and at the end of its life cycle it will collapse under the enormous pressure of its own gravity. Space is so strong that part of space-time is isolated from the outside world. In the end no light comes out of the funnel. invisible It is a so-called black The general theory of relativity is no less a theory of the cosmos.

It forms the basis for the question of its origin and the destiny of the universe. Its equations tell us that the universe was created in. a big explosion and it has become a curved space-time. It is amazing how Einstein was able to develop his theory of relativity, even though it describes events that are completely opposite to our experiences in everyday life. This achievement is due to his incredible intuition. and the willingness to look at things from a different perspective. Einstein was one of the last geniuses.