Relativity for beginners

[HarryKeogh]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7423298

I found these animations to be a nice and simple broad overview of relativity. I'm sure most people here won't learn anything new from it but thought I'd share it for those intimidated or unfamiliar with relativity theory.

The MSNBC website currently has about half a dozen articles pertaining to Einstein and his miracle year including PDF files of his most important and famous papers.

 

[wipeout]

Thanks for the link. I'm reading through some of the articles.

 

[thatguywhojuggles]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7490426/page/2/

Yes. And I would add this, just to nip this argument over “theories” in the bud: Until Einstein, all tested, confirmed physical theories were labeled laws. There’s Newton’s three laws of motion … the laws of gravity … the laws of thermodynamics. When Einstein came along, he showed that Newton was incomplete — not wrong, but incomplete, describing just a subset of reality. Einstein showed that a deeper understanding was required to account for this reality. At that point, physicists – I think not even consciously, just sort of subconsciously – stopped calling things “laws.”

There are no “laws” of physics in the 20th century. It’s quantum theory … the theory of relativity … you just look in the books, they all use the term “theory.” I think it’s a recognition that someone who comes after you may achieve an even deeper understanding of how things work. But “deeper” doesn’t mean that what you did is no longer valid. It just means that there’s a larger sphere of understanding that awaits you, in which what you just learned is embedded.

I must remember this the next time someone goes on about Evolution being "just" a theory.