Can Anyone Explain The Theory Of Relativity To Me?

Ok - first, special relativity is based on teh idea that if two people are moving at constant velcoity relative to each other, the laws of physics has to appear the saem to each of them. More to the point, if one person, Bob, sets up and apperatus to measure the speed of light in his lab, and he is movig with a speed v realtive to the other person, Alice, then if Alice measures the speed of light from Bob's set up, she measures the same value as does Bob. The speed of light is the same for both Bob and Alice and their relative speed does not change this. This is very different form what we normally encounter so it isn't easy to grasp at first go around.

The constantsy (is that even a word?) of the speed of light leads to the notions of time dilation and length contraction. That is, if Bob looks at Alice's clock, he sees it as running slow compared to his clock. Also, her meter sticks appear to be shorter than Bob's. Now since the relative velocity of Bob and Alice is constant, Bob sees Alice as moving while Bob is at rest, and Alice sees Bob as moving while she is at rest. So when Alice looks at Bob's clock, she sees it runs slow compared to hers. Andshe sees Bob's meter sticks are shorter than hers.

This gets to the twin paradox. Sorry, you but you need to understand why the paradox is really not a paradox. Ok - so one twin sets off in a spaceship, travels at speeds near that of light for some period of time, turns around and returns home to find his brother is now many years older while teh travelling twin has only aged a few years. If you follow the logic in the Bob and Alice story above, you'd conclude that both twins should have aged the same amount. But in doig that you made the assumption that both twins had a constant relative velocity with respect to each other - and that's not correct.

The space traveller has to accelerate at the start of his trip, accelerate again to turn around and accleerate on more time to come to a stop. So the motion is not one of constant velcoity - either twin can do an experiment to show which one is moving relative to the other and both will agree the space traveler is moving relative to his earthbound brother. That's because the accelerations are only experienced by the travlling twin - he experiences a force associated with each of those accelerations that his twin does not. SO now we know who is moving and the time dilation favors the moving twin. He comes back having aged less.

Alright, try to imagine this: a "light clock." a hypothetical clock made of two mirrors, that ticks everytime a photon of light from bounces from one mirror to the other. (that's about a billion ticks a second.) If you have a stationary clock, the photon of light will bounce back and forth in a straight line.

if you put a second clock on wheels and set it in motion, the photon of light will have to travel in a zig zag line to get from one mirror to the other and back again. So it ticks less in the same amount of time. Relative to itself, the clock operates as if it is still and everything around it is moving. Yet in one second, the 2nd clock will make less ticks than the first clock, indicating that somehow, less time has passed.

Light always moves at the speed of light. Relative to you, it moves the same speed if you are moving towards it or away from it. This is unlike if, say, you were running from an avalanche. Relative to you, running away, the avalanche is moving slower than it actually is, because you're running away from it. But light cannot be slowed or sped up. So time itself must be altered.

The flow of time is inversely proportional to the speed an object is moving. So if an astronaut is moving at light speed, he would only feel an instance of time, if any, pass during his trip. At the speed of light he will definitely age slower than his earth bound twin. We just don't notice these things in the real world because the effects of relativity are too small to sense.

not just space, the black hole..

actually what ever goes in there is assumed to be present in a place where spending time doesn't spend time here. therefore, when the clock/human being returns from there, he/she will be back immediately or after the time needed to push it beyond and pull it back.

ok i will try.

your out with a mate, who is boring, every minute you are with him/her seems like an hour.

next you go out with the love of your life, ever hour seems like a minutes,

time goes faster when your having fun

goes slower when you not