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Asked by fete1tee on 12 Apr 2024.
Question: Do you believe in relativity
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Sinthu Thakur answered on 12 Apr 2024:
Wow haven’t come across relativity since GCSE Physics! It is out of my expertise to provide you with more insight and knowledge but I find it fascinating to learn more.
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Karen Edwards answered on 7 Jun 2024:
I’m not sure it’s a matter of “belief”. It’s a scientific theory which means it has a lot of evidence to back it up.
Comments
Anton commented on :
Yes. The theory of relativity gave a better match between measured reality and theory than Newtonian physics did. So it is a believable theory, but of course is open to improvements as new facts are discovered, just like any other good theory.
Sheridan commented on :
Yes, it’s been determined to be the best model of what we see around. Without it GPS systems would be very inaccurate. It also fitted positions of stars during during a total solar total eclipse in 1919.
Luke commented on :
Yes, actually if you’ve ever used GPS (e.g. to check your location on a map using your phone) then you’ve worked with relativistic data. GPS calculations need to apply relativistic terms to account for the time dilation involved in sending signals between the GPS device (e.g. phone) and the satellites involved. If these relativistic terms were ignored, your GPS location would not be accurate.
While relativity can feel like an unintuative concept, it really does describe how the world works better than classical physics when dealing with lightspeed signals over long distances. GPS is a nice example of something most people have used which require it!