General Relativity

Special Relativity
• For objects travelling above 10% of the speed of light, we can observe time dilation and
length contraction.
• To a stationary observer, a moving clock will run slower than a stationary clock due to time
dilation. The moving clock shows time, t’, while the stationary clock shows time, t.
• To a stationary observer the length of a fast moving object, l’, will appear smaller than the
length, l, measured by someone in the same frame of reference as the object.
• In both cases the x’ is the value measured by the stationary observer.

and
Special Relativity
Postulates of Special Relativity
• Special relativity only applies when an object is moving at a constant speed/non accelerating in a
straight line. The motion of the object is in inertial frames of reference.
• The laws of Physics are the same for all observers in all inertial frames of reference.
• The speed of light is absolute. It is the same for all observers irrespective of their relative
velocities.
• At low speeds special relativity reduces to classical Newtonian Physics (time and space absolute).
• Mass and energy are equivalent (E = mc2).
Frames of Reference
• Two people moving at different speeds relative to each other are said to be in different frames of
reference.
• Velocities can be added to find the different relative velocities.
Frames of Reference
A passenger in a bus with a constant speed of 20 ms-1 passing a stationary observer.

• The observer sees the bus as moving at 20 ms-1 to the right.

• The passenger sees the observer as moving at 20 ms-1 to the left.
• There are two frames of reference, one for the passenger and one for the observer.
Frames of Reference - Space-time
• There are 4 space-time coordinates
in each frame.
• The observer’s are (x, y, z, t) and the
passenger's are (x’, y’, z’, t’).
• If the passengers constant speed
was very high, then the observer
would notice that the passengers
watch running slowly (time dilation)
and the watch dimensions would
appear smaller as well (length
contraction).
Frames of reference
Inertial Frames of Reference
Watch
• A frame of reference that is stationary or moving at a constant speed in a straight line
is called an inertial frame of reference.
• Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity only applies to inertial frames of reference.
Non-inertial Frames of Reference
• A non-inertial frame of reference is a frame which is accelerating i.e. accelerating in a
straight line or moving in a circle.
• Einstein wanted to extend his work on Special Relativity to include non-inertial
frames of reference and as a result discovered the link between gravity and
accelerated motion. This led him to his theory of General Relativity.
General Relativity Watch
• Einstein used a thought experiment to form the opinion that the force of
gravity might be an illusion.
• He considered two scenarios in his thought experiment. Firstly a person in
a windowless room on the Earth’s surface drops a ball from rest.
• Secondly, the same person, drops the same ball in a similar room inside a
spacecraft in deep space accelerating upwards at 9.8 ms-2.
• Both situations would result in the person experiencing exactly the same
sensation of force. The ball dropped in each room would behave in
exactly the same way. There would be no way of knowing whether
windowless room was stationary on Earth or accelerating in a region of
zero gravity.
• This realisation led Einstein to propose that acceleration and gravity are
indistinguishable or equivalent, and that gravity is not a force at all!
Equivalence Principle
• Einstein’s Equivalence Principle states:
“No observer can determine by experiment whether they are in an
constant accelerating frame of reference or in a uniform gravitational field.”
• The laws of Physics cannot distinguish between constant acceleration and
a uniform gravitational field.
• Understanding the consequences of the equivalence principle.
 Gravitational Time Dilation
• Consider a spaceship which is accelerating upwards. A source of
light emits pulses at regular time intervals from the bottom of the
spaceship. By the time a pulse reaches an observer at the top of
the spaceship, the spaceship will have moved away from the
position it occupied when the pulse was initially emitted.
• Since the spaceship is accelerating, the distance each consecutive
light pulse must travel to reach the observer will be increasing and
so will the time for the pulse to reach the observer.
• This means the observer at the top of the spaceship will conclude
that the clock at the bottom of the spaceship is running slower.
• According to the equivalence principle, a spaceship accelerating
upwards is equivalent to a spaceship at rest in a gravitational field.
So for a clock in a gravitational field, time runs more slowly than in
the absence of a field.
Gravitational Mass & Inertial Mass
• The gravitational mass of an object in a gravitational field can be found
experimentally using w = mg.
• In a region of zero gravitational field the inertial mass of an object can be
found using F = ma.
• Einstein proposed that gravitational mass is the same as inertial mass.
 Bending of Light
• Einstein reasoned that, since light has energy, it must also have an associated mass
equivalent due to E = mc2.
• As a consequence of the equivalence principle, a light beam will change direction
when it passes through the gravitational field associated with a large mass.
• The effect of the Earth’s gravitational field on a beam of light is negligible since the
Earth’s gravitational field is very small. A large gravitational field will change the
direction of light passing through it.
 Solar Eclipse
• Experimental verification of light being bent by a gravitational field came in 1919
during a total eclipse of the Sun. A British astronomer photographed a star which
should have been hidden behind the Sun during the eclipse.
• The angle between the two star positions was very small and there was a large
associated uncertainty, however it was enough to confirm that the mass of the Sun
had affected the direction of the light passing close by.
 Gravitational Lensing
• The Hubble telescope has photographed many distant galaxies with a ring of light
around them. This ring of light is known as an Einstein ring.
• This is caused when a second galaxy lies directly behind the one being photographed.
• Light from the further galaxy is bent by the strong gravitational field of the nearer
galaxy and is picked up by Hubble as a bright ring around the nearer galaxy’s light.
 Spacetime
• Einstein considered that space and time are
not separate. He combined the 3-dimensions
of space with the time dimension and
considered that the Universe exists in a
4-dimensional entity called spacetime.
• He reformulated Newton’s idea of gravity
into a framework that states the “gravity” is
the curvature of spacetime due to the
presence of mass.
• Einstein used these diagrams to help
visualise motion through spacetime.
 Spacetime
• One or two dimensions of space are shown on the
x-axis and time is shown vertically on the y-axis.
• The light cone shows every possible path that light
could take. It is impossible for any event to occur
outwith the light cone and this would imply an
object was travelling faster than the speed of
light.
• The top half of the light cone shows all possible
events that could happen in the future. The
bottom half of the light cone shows all events that
happened in the past.
• When time = 0, this is considered to be the
present.
 Spacetime Curvature
• Einstein reasoned that four-dimensional spacetime would be affected by the
presence of a large mass and concluded that spacetime would be curved near a
large mass.
• He considered that gravity is not a force, it is the warping of spacetime. Objects
move and accelerate according to the shape of the curved space.
• The General Theory of Relativity states that both lengths and times will change
near large masses and these changes in spacetime coordinates can be interpreted
as non-linear or curving.
• The General theory of relativity can show that a satellite will travel in a straight line
in curved four-dimensional spacetime.
 Rubber Sheet Analogy Watch
• Imagine a large mass placed on a horizontal rubber sheet. The rubber sheet has
square grid lines on its surface representing a coordinate system in two
dimensions.
• The sag in the middle is caused by the mass placed on the rubber sheet and the
square grid lines are now curved near the mass, this is known as a gravity well. The
grid lines remain unchanged in regions well away from the mass.
 Geodesic Paths
• Objects will naturally follow Newton’s 1st Law and continue at a steady speed in a
straight line.
• The curvature of spacetime means we perceive planets moving in circular orbits
when in fact they are moving in straight lines in curved spacetime.
• Think about the surface of the Earth, it is curved. A “straight line” on the 3D surface
of the earth looks like a curve on a 2D map.
• The shortest distance between two points in curved space is called a geodesic path.
 Geodesic Paths
• A geodesic path is the shortest possible path. On Earth we often refer to this as “as
the crow flies”.
• In spacetime all freely moving objects and light follow a geodesic path. This means
the most direct route through spacetime.
 Worldlines
• The path of an object through spacetime is called a worldline. It shows the motion of
an object through the dimensions of space and time.
• Worldlines cannot go beyond the light cone, as that would mean the object was
travelling at a speed greater than the speed of light.

t
jec
A straight
A diagonal

ob
worldline shows a ject

g
b worldline shows

vin
stationary object r o

Mo
ste a moving object
Fa
Time

(position doesn’t

Time
st ill (position
change with time) ct
r o bje changes with
te
Fas
time)

Position Position
Time Worldlines

Time
Position Position

A inverse bent worldline

A bent worldline shows
shows a negatively
an accelerating object
accelerating object
 Time Dilation due to General Relativity
• Let's think about an object in a
gravitational field now. We know
the rocket will follow a geodesic
route.
• When the rocket is far away from
the gravitational field of a planet it
can follow a direct path, this A B
results in the shortest time.
• The closer an object is to a A B
gravitational field the more
spacetime warps and the longer A B
the time taken will be.
 Black Holes
• A black hole is formed when a massive star
runs out of fuel for fusion and collapses in on
itself.
• When a star of exceptionally large mass
reaches the end of its life, gravitational
compression will cause it to collapse to a
very small radius, producing an incredibly
dense body called a black hole.
• Due to their extraordinary density, black
holes exert extremely strong gravitational
fields - they severely distort spacetime!
 Black Holes - Gravitational Description
• The intense gravitational field at the surface of the black hole is so large that the
escape velocity exceeds the speed of light.
• Nothing, including light, can escape from the surface of a black hole.
 Black Holes - General Relativity Description
• Einstein’s theory of General Relativity tells us the greater the
mass, the greater the curvature of 4D spacetime will be.
• A black hole has infinite curvature of spacetime.
• The current theory of black holes predicts that the mass of the
black hole will reduce in size to a point called a singularity. This
is at the centre of the black hole.
• The event horizon is the boundary between the inside of the
singularity and the outside universe. The escape velocity from
the event horizon of the black hole is equal to the speed of
light. From the perspective of a distant observer, time appears
to be frozen at the event horizon of a black hole.
• The event horizon forms the surface of a sphere, the radius of
which is called the Schwarzschild radius.
•
 Schwarzschild Radius
• The Schwarzschild radius is the radius of a spherical mass where the escape velocity
from the surface of the mass is equal to the speed of light.
• The relationship for the Schwarzschild radius is:

where; rsch = Schwarzschild radius (m)

M = Mass of the spherical object (kg)
G = Newton’s Gravitational constant
c = speed of light (ms-1)
 Example 1
Calculate the Schwarzschild radius of the Sun.