The Principle of Relativity
In the book, the principle of relativity declares that all constant velocity observers are subject to an identical set of physical laws, this then means that constant velocity observers are justified in making the claim that they are at rest. Before you can talk about speed or velocity, the means of measuring tit must be established. Let us use the example from the book to properly explain this and the principle of relativity. George is in space with a spacesuit that has a continuous, flashing green light. George is in absolute darkness and is completely still. Off in the distance he sees a flashing red light slowly coming towards him. After some time he sees Gracie who like him is in space, they wave at each other and Gracie passes by him, slowly fading into the distance. From Gracie's perspective, she is stationary and George passes by her. So you may be asking yourself, who is right, who is moving? The answer is they are both correct, both of these viewpoints have equal standings, both felt stationary and saw the other as moving, This example can be used to explain the meaning behind the principle of relativity. Using this we can say that the concept of motion is relative.When speaking about motion of an object relative to or by comparison of another object. This means that, Susan travels 5 miles per hour has no real meaning. But, Susan travels 5 miles per hour past Jessie does hold meaning because there is an established benchmark. We can say then that there is no absolute notion of motion.
Truth and Consequences
Time elapses more slowly for an individual that is in motion than an individual that is at rest. You may come to the conclusion that if someone is at motion rather than staying at rest, then they should be able to live longer. If people were able to move as fast as let's say muons, they would live 700 years, instead of 70 years. But the people living longer aren't actually living longer they are moving, slower. From the perspective of those living 70 years the people living 700 years are moving at a hyper slow motion pace. To them they are living an average 70 year life, but one of their normal life cycles is a much greater amount of time to a 70 year person's time. So from this what conclusion can we make. Well one being that time is affected by motion. But what is time, most definitions will either use the word time or use long explanations in order not to use the word, time. Let's say that you are driving in a straight line at 100 miles per hour down a road 10 miles long. It would take six minutes to complete because it is a tenth of an hour and 100 miles per hour. But what if you drive at an angle, well then you now you see your time has increased from six minutes to seven and eight minutes. Why is this happening, well let's consider that going in a straight line is two spatial dimensions. The time it takes to clear the road is increased because it is traversing through another dimension, time itself. Time is our fourth dimension, when we ask to meet someone we tell them where in space we want to meet them. But something as important is when we want to meet them. The dimensions are three in space and one that is located in time. Let's end this post with talking of the light speed. Say we took a muon for example and propelled it at great speed, enough to have it reach 99.9999999 the percent the speed of light. There is a specific reason why we can't just push it a little harder to get it to the speed of light. That reason is that as the speed increases for the muon the more massive it becomes. So as it increases its speed the more difficult it becomes to increase its speed. The mass would increase without limit as the speed gets closer to the speed of light. To break that barrier it would require an infinite amount of energy. But this is impossible, meaning that nothing travels faster light.
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