Relative Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Relative Theory - Essay Example earth-bound existence) – can be regarded as tenable. This gave rise to a controversy because in classical mechanics a free fall in a non-gravitational field is known as ‘inertial motion’, i.e. there is no external force applied on the object. But gravity is a force. Therefore, classical mechanics holds the view that ‘inertial objects moving through space cannot accelerate with respect to each other’. Now we come to the crux of the problem – how to reconcile the two seemingly incompatible theoretical postulates? Einstein next proposed an alternative theory in which he argued that the space-time continuum is curved. His subsequent field equations relate the curvature of space-time to the mass, energy and the momentum within it. Hence his famous equation: Now I will come to the point in the article. So called â€Å"Grandfather paradox† is directly related to the same â€Å"traveler-homebody† paradox here. Since space-time curvature as suggested by Einstein would allow us to solve the seemingly irreconcilable twin paradox presented in this article, it might be pertinent here to examine all probabilities of the theory. According to the Grandfather paradox a time traveler who goes back in time will be able to kill his biological grandfather before the latter meets the time traveler’s grandmother so that one of his parents might not be conceived. Logically, this means that he himself might not be born. Now comes the real paradox. Since the time traveler did not go back in time, his grandfather was not killed. Therefore one of his parents was born thus enabling him or her to meet the other. Finally, the time traveler was born. The homebody finds out to his amazement that his brother is now four years younger than him. The logical sequence of events should provide an equally logical outcome. Now let’s look at what the Doppler effect has to offer us by way of an explanation. According to the Doppler effect â€Å"waves that propagate in a