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Special relativity applies to physical phenomena without gravity and establishes that measurements of space and time depend on the observer’s state of motion.
The theory of relativity consists of Albert Einstein’s two interrelated theories: special relativity, published in 1905, and general relativity, developed between 1907 and 1915. Special relativity describes the structure of spacetime in the absence of gravity and replaces the Galilean transformations of classical mechanics with Lorentz transformations. It is based on the relativity principle and the constancy of the speed of light, leading to consequences such as the relativity of simultaneity, time dilation, length contraction, a finite universal speed limit, and mass–energy equivalence expressed as E = mc². General relativity explains gravity as the curvature of four-dimensional spacetime caused by mass, energy, and momentum. Based on the equivalence principle and expressed through Einstein’s field equations, it predicts gravitational time dilation, the precession of orbits, the bending of light, frame-dragging, black holes, gravitational waves, and the expansion of the universe. Both theories have been supported by extensive experimental evidence, including the Michelson–Morley, Kennedy–Thorndike, and Ives–Stilwell experiments, observations of Mercury’s orbit and gravitational light deflection, and modern applications such as GPS, precision timekeeping, particle accelerators, and electron microscopes.
Special relativity applies to physical phenomena without gravity and establishes that measurements of space and time depend on the observer’s state of motion.
General relativity describes gravity as spacetime curvature and explains phenomena such as gravitational time dilation, light deflection, black holes, and gravitational waves.
Relativistic effects have been repeatedly confirmed experimentally and are essential to technologies including GPS, satellite navigation, precision clocks, and particle accelerators.
Einstein’s theory describing space, time, motion, and energy in the absence of gravity.
Einstein’s theory of gravitation in which mass and energy curve spacetime and determine the motion of matter and light.
The unified four-dimensional framework combining three dimensions of space with time.
Mathematical transformations relating space and time measurements between inertial observers moving at constant relative velocities.
The principle that free fall and inertial motion are locally indistinguishable from acceleration-free motion.
The relativistic effect in which moving clocks or clocks in stronger gravitational fields are measured to run more slowly.
The relativistic shortening of an object measured along its direction of motion relative to an observer.
The principle that mass and energy are interchangeable, summarized by the equation E = mc².
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