diondremompoint
- Sep 8, 2022
- 3 min read

Einstein's General Relativity Theory: Get Ready To Blow Your Mind

Updated: Mar 18, 2023

Simply Explained- I Hope

Photo Credits: By AlexAntropov86 on Pixabay

Intro

From my biological perspective, it is hard to fully comprehend the minds of my theoretical physicist friends. One of the concepts that always stumped me was Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. It pains me to say that it took me awhile to understand the concept; it is even more painful that I wish I understood it sooner. I consider the theory a beautiful explanation for gravity and the interactions between massive objects. With beauty there is complexity, and with complexity is more questions. When I started to indulge myself in theoretical physics and cosmology, I got another side of insane theories that can make anyone question the origin of life. Once understood, as Michael Behe would say, a black box is open.

What Is Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Exactly?

The Theory of General Relativity was first published by Albert Einstein in 1915. It has become an important part to modern physics and a foundation for the geometrics of space-time. Einstein's original theory was called "Special Relativity" which was a very basic model for how speed affects mass, space and time. The theory of special relativity only helped to explain the connection between time and space; it did not consider gravity. After a decade, Einstein formulated the theory of general relativity to connect space-time and gravity.

How Does It Work?

Let us begin with gravity. Gravity can be described as a force that attracts the body to the center of Earth or towards another physical object with a mass. To further the idea of gravity, we use Einstein's theory of general relativity to back this. It is referred to as the "Theory for Gravity" if that makes sense. The theory of general relativity starts with the idea that massive objects create a curve in space. The curve or warp in space-time creates the force of gravity, allowing much smaller objects to orbit or sub orbit the larger object. An example of this is seen with our solar system (as seen in the cover photo).

Which One Of These Planets Have An Odd Orbit Around The Sun?

Saturn
Mercury
Earth
Jupiter

Find Answer Below

Photo Credits: By Atlearner

The curve in space time is depicted on a 2-D plane for us to interpret, however, the actual curve in space-time is 4-dimensional. Since we cannot visualize 4-D, it is left in 2-D as seen in the photo above. Einstein's construct of space-time is described as a coordinate system. It combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. With the curvatures of space-time came other postulates that support the idea.

The theory of general relativity helped to explain the precession of Mercury. Out of all the planets in our solar system, Mercury(Cha-Ching) has a very odd way of orbiting its perihelion( or close to sun).

Mercury moves deep into the gravity of the sun and experiences greater curvature of space-time. Because of this, there is a special arc when mercury approaches closely to the sun. It almost hugs or makes a tight turn around the sun as seen in the photo above.

If you have never got to understand Einstein's theory of general relativity, then I hope your mind is blown. If you still are having trouble understanding I suggest this video:

If you are eager for more questions like me, then share them below or message me on my socials:

My Social Accounts

I'll end this article with a quote I mentioned: