robertr


 * The Theory of Relativity**

In today's society it's easy for any scientist to try and reject Einstein's initial theory of relativity, however, the theory of relativity has been confirmed in a number of ways since it was introduced.

Einstein's theory predicts that light will bend to immitate the vicinity of a massive object (ie. the sun). To prove this scientists observed starts that were close to the sun. Since the sun produces so much light they had to do their observations during a total eclipse. Einstein had predicited that there would be an apparent shift of 1.745 seconds of arc for a star at the sun, with continually smaller shifts for more distant stars. The scientists that observed the 1919 and 1922 eclipses confirmed Einstein's prediction. In more recent years scientists again confirmed Einstein's prediciton with a more accurate way. This time scientists used radio telescope interferometers. The results were so accurate that they aggreed to within one percent of Einstein's prediction. No wonder there was controversy and disagreement with Einstein's theory of relativity. His theory was the biggest since Newton's 250 years prior. To this current day scientists are trying to prove Einstein's theory wrong. However, with an example such as the planet Mercury, theystand little chance in proving him wrong. Mercury revolves around the sun once in around three million years. Such a long perihelion can't be explained by classic theories. However, Einstein's theory of relativity predicts this part of motion. Recent measures of Mercury's orbit confirm Einstein's theory down to .5 percent. If any scientists still don't believe Einstein's theory to be true they should look at perhaps the most obvious point proving Einstein's theory.The theory of relativity states that a rotating mass will drag space and time around with it as it moves. This is called "frame dragging" and is what EInstein had predicted in his original theory. In recent years researchers have tried to prove that this is not the case. However, in 1997 a group of Italian scientists noticed a profound similarity to Einstein's prediction when observing stars. Ultimatly, the scientists discovered that there is frame dragging around these dense stars, proving Einstein's theory once again.

Works Cited "Relativity," __Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia__ 2008 <[]>.