Einstein's special theory of relativity
- noun
- /ˈaɪnstaɪnz ˈspɛʃəl ˈθɪəri əv rɪˈlætɪvɪti/
- Specialized
:
teoría especial de la relatividad de Einstein
- That's what happens in Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Examples
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According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, an onlooker who views a material object traveling at ever-greater speeds will see the object's mass increase, its time slow down, and its length shorten in the direction of motion.
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It required a fundamental change in the notions of space and time and was finally explained, almost 20 years later, by Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Academic text (2004) -
According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it is impossible for anything to go faster than the speed of light.
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The great paradigm shift in physics came with Einstein's special theory of relativity, which was later expanded upon in his general theory of relativity.
Synonyms
2
7.1
A theory that says physics works the same for all objects moving at constant speed and light speed is constant
1
6.1
A scientific idea that space and time change with speed and that light has the same speed for all observers
A physics idea that light moves at the same speed and time and space change for moving people
Surface Forms
Morphology
Einstein's + special + theory + of + relativity
The phrase is fully compositional: 'Einstein's' marks association/ownership, 'special' signals a particular kind, and 'theory of relativity' names the scientific concept, so the overall meaning ('the particular relativity theory associated with Einstein') follows directly from the parts. Cross-linguistically and in English this noun-phrase structure is regular, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words (including the technical word 'relativity') will be able to understand the MWE.
Etymology
Einstein's special theory of relativity was named after Albert Einstein's simple but powerful idea from 1905: the word special shows it only covers people moving at a steady speed, and relativity means the same physical rules apply to them. It also says light always travels at the same speed, so clocks and rulers behave differently for moving people, which is why it means 'time and space are linked'.