Two-dimensional visualization of space-time distortion. The presence of matter bends space-time, this bending being interpreted as gravity. From Wikimedia Commons |
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Two-dimensional visualization of space-time distortion. The presence of matter bends space-time, this bending being interpreted as gravity. From Wikimedia Commons |
General Relativity is an extension of Special Relativity into the general case of non-inertial frames, the result is a theory of gravity that extends and corrects Newtonian gravitation. According to General relativity gravity results from a space-time distortion caused by the presence of a mass much like placing a weight on a rubber sheet, in fact the mathematics of both are basically the same.
General Relativity has to date passed every experimental test devised fore it; making it one the best verified theories in Physics. Surprisingly it is has proven to be quite useful to Creation Science and it actually supports some aspects of Biblical teaching.
For a detailed description of General Relativity see the article An Essay on General Relativity
The essence of the Principle of Covariance is that physical laws are the same for arbitrary observers. In General relativity it is an equivalence the affects of gravity and inertia. If fact it turns out that gravity is inertial affect explaining why gravitational and inertial are equivalent
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Falling in a gravitational field is experimentally equivalent to having no gravity |
Accelerating outside a gravitational field is equivalent to being at rest in a gravitational field. . |
The same affect would also be observed for light.
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Light is seen to travel in a strait line both when falling in a gravitational field and having no gravity |
How ever light is seen to bend both when accelerating outside a gravitational field is equivalent to being at rest in a gravitational field. |
Simply put if you are in a windowless box you could not tell the difference between being in deep space and in a gravitational field. The only exception to this are tidal force resulting from changes in gravity.
One of the most verified aspects of General relativity is gravitational time dilation. Dr. Russell Humphreys shows in his White Hole Cosmology that gravitational time dilation can solve the problem of getting distant star light to Earth even though creation occurred less than 10,000 years ago. General relativity not only provides a solution to the distant star light problem but can solve other Cosmology problems as well.
Special Relativity shows that time is an integral part of the structure of the universe, and not just the perceptions of a sequence if events. The result is that any thing outside the universe would be timeless or have its own time. General Relativity requires at least one additional dimension beyond space-time, this shows that there is an outside. Such an out side would be timeless and by definition, it would be what the Bible refers to as eternity.
Relativity: The Special and General Theory
