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Albert Einstein's theory of relativity has affected today's research as we continue to identify distant masses, gather more information why we see what we see, and advance technology. Albert Einstein's theory of relativity is an idea which was confirmed that light rays from distant stars were deflected by the gravity of the sun. Einstein's earlier theory of time and space, special relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock depends on the motion of the observer of that clock ( Lightman ). Depending on the acceleration of one object, the object being observed can be distorted. Similar to passing a car, it seems the other car is going in reverse, when realistically it is traveling at a slower rate but in the same direction. The theory sums that if motion affects time and space, so does gravity.

Gazing into the far-off distance, we are able to identify and define why one object orbits another. The gravitational pull towards one mass depends on high close the objects orbit one another. For a while, it was believed that you could form an 180 degree triangle, allowing us to understand how fast one object is orbiting another and how near one object is to another. But with Einstein's theory, we now understand that not every triangle we think we form is not 180 degrees. The reasoning is clocks tick more slowly the closer they are to a gravitational mass like the sun, and the position we we are on earth. Now when research estimate the distance of a far-off mass, they have to estimate from where they were at that specific moment in time. These estimations could be light years off. But, Einstein's theory gives us the most specific estimation without flying a space craft to the mass and back, which could take hundreds of thousands of years. According to the big bang theory, the universe may keep expanding forever, if its inward gravity is not sufficiently strong to counterbalance the outward

motion of galaxies, or it may reach a maximum point of expansion and then start collapsing, growing denser and denser, gradually disrupting galaxies, stars, planets, people, and eventually even individual atoms. Much of modern cosmology, including the construction of giant new telescopes such as the new Keck telescope in Hawaii, has been an attempt to measure these two numbers with better and better accuracy ( Lightman ). Based upon these results, Einstein formulated an equation E=mc2, which means Energy= the mass*light years squared. Einstein developed the general theory of relativity to modify Newton's law of gravitation so that it would agree with special relativity. The key disagreement lay in descriptions of how objects exert forces on one another. In special relativity, nothing can travel between two points faster than the speed of light. This principle applies to forces as well as rays of light (Dine). When we see a another star or object floating in space, we see the reflection from its light based on the gravitational pull of our sun.

In other words, our sun is pulling the light rays from a distant object and directing them to our eyes. Some objects are so far away from planet earth and can only be seen through intense lenses from our telescopes. It is almost hard to understand how far away these masses are because our sun has an extremely strong gravitation pull. We may be able to see some of these far-off objects for only a few seconds at time. Again, due to our position and rotational speed of our planet, and the orbital speed of the mass, it seems to only be a little twinkle of light in the sky. Einstein proved Newton's First of Gravity by understanding the concept that not everything in space revolves the sun. Many ideas and images were distorted before Einstein was able to alter some of the laws based on gravity.When we see an object off in space, most think that we are seeing the direct pull of energy by our sun, straight to our eye. Actually the light is bent as it is transmitted to our eye ( Fedler ). When the light from other stars passes near the sun it gets bent, which changes the apparent positions of the stars ( Fedler ).

With the advancement of technology, we are able to use robots to identify parts of space that only Einstein's equation, E=mc2, could identify. With the use of satellite technology, we now have the ability to snap graphic photos of what seem to be a little twinkle in the sky. Similar to being on earth, the satellites position and speed effect what masses are visible out in the distance. Here on earth, we depend on the position of satellites to deliver strong television signal, GPS signal, and radio signal. The satellite is similar to the distant mass, while we are similar to the satellite in orbital rotation. Today most of our technology is run-off of satellites, which were originally created to help us gain a stronger understanding of space. If it weren't for Einstein's theory of relativity, our world would be vastly different. No Internet, wireless cell phones, satellite TV, a personal navigation system, or radio. It is insane how an invention can have so many adaptations that our completely different from the original idea. One simple little machine can send waves of energy to run our world. Today's society depends on being able to communicate or view something that is on the other side of the world in a heart beat.

As our world depends more and more on technology, researchers are spending massive amounts of time working to upgrade the existing technology. Albert Einstein theory of relativity came about when he was testing the laws of gravity. His research has lead our world into a new world. Einstein's simple little equation has helped us identify large masses off in the distance that seemed like a little twinkle in the eye before the 1900's. He has helped us understand why something shows up looking like a star one night and is nonexistent the next night. It is now understood that the light from other masses pulled into our vision by the gravitation pull of our sun. Einstein probably did not realize at the time how innovative his theory has been. The theory of relativity has helped us identify distant masses, explain why we see something, and the innovation of technology into society.

Lightman, Alan. "NOVA | Einstein's Big Idea | Relativity (Lightman Essay) | PBS." __PBS__. 27 Jan. 2009 . Alan Lightman scripted this documentary to portray Einstein as someone in a world of his own when it comes to intelligence. Lightman is very positive and credits Einstein for his amazing theory. He demonstrates Einstein intelligence by relating the theory to common, everyday things so the average joe can understand. Many scientific words are used throughout the site, but lightman explains what it means in parentheses. Every bit of information is backed support from experiments so all the information in legitamate.

Dine, Michael. "World Book at NASA." __Relativity__. 20 Jan. 2009 <[|www.nasa.gov/worldbook/relativity_worldbook.html]>. The reasoning behind using this website is that is direct information from NASA. NASA uses Einstein's equation, E=mc2, everyday because they are capturing images of distant planets. They also have many crafts orbiting Earth and even on other planets. They have the most recent and accurate information of anyone on the theory of relativity.

Safko, John L. "The Special Theory of Relativity; Unit 56." __USC Self-Paced Astronomy__. Jan. 1, 1999. 25 Jan. 2009.  I viewed this as a valid source because it was research done by a USC professor and some of his students. They would not have posted this information if it was invalid in anyway. This website was helpful in breaking the information down by using charts and images from their results. Their results have gone hand and hand with the other information i have found.

Felder, Gary. "Bumps and Wiggles: An Introduction to General Relativity." 2003. 27 Jan. 2009 . This website was similar to the one by USC. It was a group of students from the physics department experimenting and gaining a greater knowledge of Einstein's theory. With the many diagrams and images, this site was easy to understand the material given.