The Collaborative International Dictionary
relativity \rel`a*tiv"i*ty\ (-t?v"?-t?), n.
The state of being relative; as, the relativity of a subject.
--Coleridge.One of two theories (also called theory of relativity) proposed by Albert Einstein, the special theory of relativity, or the general theory of relativity. The special theory of relativity or special relativity is based on the proposition that the speed of light is a constant no matter how observed, and is independent of the motion of the observer. From this follows several principles, such as the increase of mass with velocity (which has been confirmed: see relativistic mass equation) and the impossibility of acceleration to a speed greater than that of light; the equivalence of mass and energy, expressed by the famous equation E = mc^ 2; and time dilation, which is the apparent slowing of a clock in a system, as observed by an observer in a system moving relative to the clock. The general theory of relativity is based on the proposition that there is no physical difference between gravitational force and the force produced by acceleration. From this follow several results, of which the bending of light rays in a gravitational field and the equivalence of the inertial and gravitational masses have been verified. The possible existence of black holes (believed by many astronomers to have been adequately proven) is another consequence of the theory.
WordNet
n. a generalization of special relativity to include gravity (based on the principle of equivalence) [syn: general relativity, general relativity theory, Einstein's general theory of relativity]
Usage examples of "general theory of relativity".
We shall see later that this point of view, the conceivability of which I shall at once endeavour to make more intelligible by a somewhat halting comparison, is justified by the results of the general theory of relativity.
The situation, however, is quite different in the general theory of relativity.
Seventy years ago, if Eddington is to be believed, only two people understood the general theory of relativity.
Thanks to the general theory of relativity, the structure of the universe is not a single, simply-connected region of space and time.
By Einstein's general theory of relativity, time also slows in the presence of gravitational fields.
Our conception of gravity is built around Einsteins General Theory of Relativity, which is now a century and a half old but which, within its limits, remains firm.
First, we have worked it out theoreti cally, in the form of the general theory of relativity.
First, we have worked it out theoretically, in the form of the general theory of relativity.
They've been there in the general theory of relativity for a hundred years or more.
Kathryn took and survived those shattering treatments, one after another, emerging finally with a mind whose power and scope can no more be explained to any mind below the third level than can the general theory of relativity be explained to a chimpanzee.
In developing his general theory of relativity (GRT), Einstein sought to remove the restriction of inertial frames and extend the principle to frames in general.
It was Einstein, again, who stepped in and resolved the conflict by offering a new conception of gravity with his 1915 general theory of relativity.
It is possible that we are calculating in a naive manner, and, if all of the consequences of the general theory of relativity (such as the gravitational effects produced by the large stresses implied here) were included, the effects might cancel out.
In Part II we shall see in what way this result becomes modified in the general theory of relativity.