If you haven't studied the theory, what's the first thing you think of when someone says the word Relativity? The man with the wild hair who invented it? Or matter traveling at the speed of light? Stopping time? Maybe, the idea of matter acquiring infinite mass? Those all seem impossible don't they? Like magic. Something that could never happen. They cant. Those are only the extreme, impossible cases of Relativity. If that's all there was to Relativity, Einstein wouldn't have struggled for 11 years to develop the math required to describe what he first exposed in Special Relativity (the effects of the interaction between matter, light and the space-time fabric -- with movement in one spacial dimension) and later developed into General Relativity(the same effects, describing the theory more completely, including movement in three dimensions).
Those extreme examples are what Relativity concludes can never happen. What Relativity also describes is everything well below and approaching the extreme cases. Those effects are all around us. Being in the gravitational field of the earth is a relativistic effect.
To describe Relativity, Einstein uses thought experiments. Like imagining the difference between being in an elevator out in space (away from a gravitational field like the earth's) and being accelerated upward by an imaginary rope pulling from above. The rope pulls the elevator upward hard enough to accelerate it as fast as the earth accelerates something in free fall. He imagines whether one case is any different from the other, to the person inside. He concludes it is not. The effect of acceleration, in the space-time fabric is equivalent to the effect of the earth's gravitational pull. To the rider, the gravity of the earth does the same thing that the rope does -- they both make him feel heavy. The two effects work from opposite directions. The rope pulls the elevator through the space-time fabric. The earth pulls the space-time fabric down, making the rider feels the same effect. For the rider, the two cases are identical.
This thought experiment captures the essence of what relativity is about. It means that movement in the space-time fabric affects matter. It alters matter's atomic function. If the speeds become extreme, so do the effects on atomic function.
Let's look at what happens to the rider in terms of the rider's Time, Space and Mass as the rider progresses from rest, to approaching the speed of light at several intervals along the way. In the beginning, the relativistic effects are negligible. They start to become notable by 50%, significant at 99% and huge beyond that.
There's just a little bit of math in the next section to show how the magnitude of the relativistic effects are derived. But the calculations aren't that important to understanding the effects. Anyone who dislikes math should skip down to the text preceding the chart of the calculation results below.
If the rope keeps pulling long enough, the speed of the elevator will approach the speed of light. And the more extreme relativistic effects will manifest in the rider and elevator. But those effects begin, on a small scale, at the first moment of acceleration, and increase throughout the ride. They can be easily calculated from the following equations, derived in special relativity.
_________
/ v(2) 1
S or T = / 1 - ----- and M = ---
\/ C(2) S
where:
S is a measure of Space dilation
T is a measure of Time dilation
V(2) means the velocity of the elevator (squared)
C(2) means the velocity of light (squared)
M is the inverse (1/S) of space dilation (or time dilation)
M is a measure of the elevator's (or the rider's) mass which
equals the inverse (1/S) of space dilation.
T and S are equal, so M also = 1/T
We'll measure the elevator's velocity in terms of a percentage of the speed of light. At 10% of C, V(2)/C(2) is .10(2) / 1(2). That's .01 / 1 = .01. or 1%.
If we subtract 1% from 1, which = (99%), and take the square root of that we get
.9948 = 99.48%
That's the measure of time and space dilation with the elevator moving at 10% of C. The increase in mass is the inverse of that.
1 / .9948 = 1.00503 or 100.503%
If we multiply that number by the original mass, we get the mass when the velocity is 10% of C.
Compared to someone at rest (in an inertial frame) watching the elevator pass by, relativity describes the following effects.
At 10% of C, the progress of time for the rider, and the rider's size are decreased to 99.49% of their original values at rest. And the rider's mass increases by .503%. It is 100.503% of its rest value. The increased mass concept is a bit counter-intuitive. You have to consider that mass is a measure of a body's ability to move through the space-time fabric. At high speeds, it becomes harder to push a body through the space-time fabric. The mass increase is really a measure of the bodies effect on the fabric. Time and space dilation are measures of direct effects on the body.
In the chart, Velocity is on the left.
Space and Time dilation are in the middle, shown as a percentage of their original values of atomic function. To be clear, at 90% of C the riders physical size is 43.58 percent of his original size. And his internal clock would be progressing at a rate of 43.58 percent of its normal speed. In the third column, Mass(the difficulty with which matter moves through the fabric), is shown as a percentage of its rest mass. At 99% of C, the rider's mass is 708.88% times his rest mass. About 7 times as great.
Here are the results of the calculations showing: Velocity (V); Space and Time dilation(S and T); and Mass increase(M), as matter accelerates.
V as a % of C S or T(dilation) M(increase)
------------- --------------------- ----------------
0 100 % 100 %
10 99.49 % 100.503 %
50 86.66 % 115.470 %
90 43.58 % 229.41 %
99 14.106 % 708.88 %
99.99 0.0141 % 7071.24 %
99.999 0.004472124 % 22360.6773 %
99.9999 0.0014142132 % 70710.6957 %
99.99999 0.0004472135 % 223606.803 %
99.999999 0.0001414213 % 707106.785 %
100 0 infinity
As we look down the list of the dilation values, we see that from 0 to 10% of C, the dilation effects are pretty small. Less than 1%. At 50% of C, they become pretty significant. Compared to a person at rest, the rider's watch would be short about a day a week. At 99% of C, the rider's watch would only advance a day, while a watch at rest would advance a week. Beyond that the increase in time and space dilation go up fast.
The same pattern is true for the mass increase(which is just the inverse of S or T) at the same intervals. They start small and gradually increase until the speed gets to about 99% of C, then they start to skyrocket.
So as matter moves through the space-time fabric, the speed of travel affects the matter's atomic function(the amount of energy it contains and operates with). As speed increases, the matter(composed of atoms) gets smaller and slows down. Simultaneously, the movement of matter through the fabric affects the fabric. As speed increases, the fabric gets backed up, in a sense. The fabric's natural free flowing state is disrupted by the movement and the fabric can't operate normally. As the speed of matter approaches C, an increasingly large portion of the space-time fabric is affected in this way, and the force required to push the matter to C becomes infinitely high.
This is the crux of special relativity. It demonstrates a relationship between matter and the space-time fabric. And the unreachable limit of travel in the fabric is the speed of light. That's a crucial point. It reveals something important about the fabric. The only other thing we know of that moves in the fabric, besides matter, is light. And we know that light always always travels at the exact speed that limits the speed of matter in the fabric. Finally, we know that both light and matter are influenced, in a measurable way by a strong gravitational field in the fabric.
After Einstein published his general theory of relativity in 1916 -- before it was widely accepted -- one of the experiments he proposed to verify the theory was carried out. And the results astounded the world and changed our picture of the universe. In general relativity, Einstein proposed that a gravitational field actually changes the space-time fabric -- it warps it. A large mass, like a sun, bends the fabric toward itself. The fabric flows into the large mass.
Einstein proposed that when light passed close to our sun, it would be bent toward the center of mass of the sun, because the light was traveling in a fabric that was flowing toward the sun. The only time we could see such an effect was during a solar eclipse. In 1919, Eddington and Dyson took photographs of a star whose light passed near the sun, then compared the position of that star in relation to other stars that appear close to it. when those photographs were compared to photographs taken of the same grouping of stars at night, without the sun's influence, they revealed that the apparent position of the star whose light came close to the sun had shifted. The path of the target star's light had been bent by the fabric. Einstein's theory was verified and could not be denied.
Since then, the theory has been tested and verified in countless ways. And it seems to be not just a close approximation of physical nature. But rather a true description and understanding of how matter, energy, light and the space-time fabric coexist. The only piece of this puzzle still missing, is a description of what the space-time fabric is, and how matter and light interact with it. I believe Einstein might have found this missing piece if he hadn't been distracted by emerging developments in physics that revealed confusing results when physicists began to look deeply into how matter behaves at the quantum level.
Experiments at the quantum level revealed a myriad of fascinating results. The two slit experiment shows that when a photon or electron passes through one of two holes, the effect of its movement goes through both holes. Particle accelerator experiments shoot atomic bullets at near light speeds at atomic targets. And spectacular images of the results of these collisions revealed different types of particles appearing and disappearing and interacting with each other at a distance. When physicists tried to observe both the position and momentum of a particle, they found that they couldn't do both at the same time. These events were the birth of the science of quantum physics we know today.
As the science of quantum physics developed. It wasn't obvious how Einstein's space-time fabric fit in to these new observations and the science that describes the quantum world. And so quantum physics to some degree, works without it. Einstein tried to reconcile the two schools of thought for the rest of his life. But science moved on without him. And it has accomplished great things.
But I don't think the quantum world and relativity are so irreconcilable. I think relativity is one of the factors that makes the quantum world appear so mysterious. And by leaving relativity out of quantum physics, we see things that appear to be almost magic. If we had focused on the relationship between matter, light and the space-time fabric and figured out what the fabric is and how it operates, and incorporated a better understanding of the fabric into our view of the quantum world, we might have comprehended that world more completely and sooner.
Let's look again at two things that emerge from relativity. The relationship between matter and the space-time fabric. And the fundamental equation that defines the amount energy contained in matter -- E = M C(squared).
Again, light and matter both move in the space-time fabric. Both are affected by a gravitational field which is conveyed by the space-time fabric. Away from a strong gravitational field, light travels perfectly straight, and at a constant speed, no matter what the energy level of the light is. Matter on the other hand, can have inertia, or can be made to move in the fabric. But the limit of how fast matter can move in the fabric, is the speed of light.
The energy contained by matter is defined by an equation that includes the speed of light multiplied by itself. That is, matter's energy and mass are fundamentally defined by the speed of light. The speed of light is deeply ingrained in the equations of relativity. And also in much of our science.
So, consider the possibility that the space-time fabric is composed of light. That might explain why the limit of matter's speed in the fabric is equal to the speed of light. If we temporarily suspend belief in the concept we've all been taught. That "light is pure energy. It moves by itself". And think about how relativity would work, if the fabric WAS light. It fits the concepts and the mathematics of relativity very nicely.
If light doesn't travel by itself. If light moves at it's incredible speed by applying force to other light in the fabric that is moving in a different direction. And the interactions of light pushing off other light, create a fabric that interacts directly with matter. If we consider these possibilities, then we might understand the mechanics of what Einstein discovered, and what he continued to pursue until he passed from our world.
Consider also, the possibility that matter is composed of light. That would explain why it has been shown time and again that Einstein's mathematics describing the relationship between matter, energy, light and the fabric have been proven true. The truth of relativity has been verified in every realm, except the quantum world, where our science has, to a degree, ignored it.
One more missing piece to this puzzle is how the relationship between matter and the fabric is executed. We think of matter as a contained quantity of energy. The amount of energy contained depends on the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. The more protons and neutrons in a nucleus, the more energy the atom holds. But how does an atom hold this energy? And how does it maintain it's relatively constant energy level over time, while it continuously exerts its forces? Forces such as: chemical bonds with other atoms; the strong, weak and electric forces that hold an atom together; and magnetism. An atom MUST be continuously acquiring energy, if it can spend energy to exert its forces. If not, atoms are not just AS GOOD AS perpetual motion machines. They are BETTER THAN perpetual motion machines. They are perpetual motion generators. But this idea violates the laws of conservation beyond possibility.
I believe that matter continuously absorbs the energy it spends, from Einstein's fabric. Which is composed of the same type of energy as matter -- light. And the relationship between matter and the fabric, is caused by a contiunous energy exchange between them. The fabric feeds matter's energy requirements -- keeping it alive and thriving. This energy exchange is the essence of relativity.
Relativity could be considered to be any exchange of energy between any two entities. Time and space dilation, and increasing mass at relativistic speeds are the obvious examples. But gravity is relativity. Bending light is relativity. Inertia and momentum are relativity. The existence of matter is relativity. The energy loss in photons that have traveled across the universe is relativity. The only thing that would NOT be relativity would be light traveling in a perfectly uniform fabric where all the photons in the fabric have the exact same energy level, and no energy is exchanged between any of them. That doesn't even occur. Everything is relative.
I'll finish with an explanation of one example of what I think diverted our science away from the pursuit a deeper understanding of the mechanics of Einstein's space-time fabric. An example of how relativistic effects distort our understanding of the quantum world when we ignore them.
In particle accelerator experiments, we shoot electrons, positrons and protons at a hydrogen or deuterium nucleus and watch what happens. This is an extreme case of relativity at work. The bullet travels close to the speed of light. All the extreme relativistic effects come into play for the bullet, the fabric it moves in, and the target. As the bullet approaches the impossible speed, space and time dilation, and extreme increasing mass (which affects the target before the bullet reaches it), are at work. As the bullet approaches the target, it has lost most of its energy and operates at a lower level than normal. It shrinks. Its atomic function decreases. Time slows down for the bullet. And it has a larger effect than normal on the space-time fabric. It can't push its way through the fabric as easily as it would at lower speeds. It requires more and more force make it go faster.
As the bullet approaches the target, the relativistic effects work against our goal, which is to watch the bullet hit the nucleus of the target. Unless our bullet is shot with perfect accuracy, the interaction of these relativistic forces push the target out of the way, and divert the bullet slightly from its intended path. The bullet most often passes by the nucleus without making enough contact to break it apart. It passes through what we consider to be the empty space surrounding the nucleus and its bound electron. Occasionally though, we score a direct hit. And when we do, the results are spectacular. Particles appear seemingly out of nowhere sometimes. Or appear for an instant, and interact with other particles at a distance, then disappear. Anyone who hasn't seen pictures from the bubble chambers that detect the movements of particles when a collision occurs in these experiments, should take a look. And science has categorized the different types of particles that emerge, and their characteristics and relationships to each other in brilliant and beautiful ways. The furthest I've gone into trying to understand this taxonomy is Gell-Mann's quark model for nuclear composition and the eight fold way theory that encompasses it.
But our science concludes from the results of these experiments, that the size of a nucleus is extremely tiny compared to the distance at which its electrons are bound to it. I think the perceived ratio between the diameter of a nucleus and the distance to the closest electron is something like width of an apple compared to a football stadium. We might conclude something much different though, if we keep relativity in mind. But having concluded that relativity does not work at the quantum level, we've built models that, at least partially, ignore it. And I think we should consider going back to it.
A true understanding of nature. One which reconciles all the pieces of what we've developed so far, will include an understanding of how relativity operates at the quantum level. And a complete understanding of relativity, will include a better explanation for why the properties of light are so prominently factored into our most important and enduring equations -- the equations that define what matter is.
We would do well to go back to the trail that the wonderful man with the wild hair and the sock-less feet blazed. And look at it again more closely. Maybe we can finish polishing the gem that he found and cut for us. Maybe we will eventually see the full brightness of the light that he saw glimmering in that gem as a young man, working mostly by himself. The light that he exposed for us, and that still illuminates the paths we are on now. The light that he continued to follow, and to try to fully comprehend for the rest of his life. It was quite a life.