General Principles

In physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the equations describing the laws of physics have the same form in all admissible frames of reference.

If you think about space stations drifting along in empty space, some statements that are surely relative spring to mind right away: statements about velocities. Imagine that, from the point of view of observer A sitting on the upper deck of his or own space station, the station of observer B passes by at considerable speed:

Albert Einstein determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity.

In June 1905, when Albert Einstein was still a patent examiner in Bern, Switzerland, he sent a paper with this title to the journal Annalen der Physik. It contained his special theory of relativity. He argued that altering our understanding of the behavior of space and time could resolve certain problems in electrodynamics. (See page one in German or English.)

Relativity is one of the most famous scientific theories of the 20th century, but how well does it explain the things we see in our daily lives?

The Physics of the Universe - Special and General Relativity - Speed of Light and the Principle of Relativity

In the theory of general relativity, the equivalence principle is any of several related concepts dealing with the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, and to Albert Einstein's observation that the gravitational "force" as experienced locally while standing on a massive body (such as the Earth) is the same as the pseudo-force experienced by an observer in a non-inertial (accelerated) frame of reference.

Information about the principle that Einstein took as a starting point for developing his general theory of relativity

equivalence principle: Fundamental law of physics that states that gravitational and inertial forces are of a similar nature and often indistinguishable. In the Newtonian form it asserts, in effect,...

The Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP) is a joint European-U.S. space program to investigate one of the most fundamental principles in physics, the Equivalence of inertia and passive gravitational mass. Isaac Newton first recognized the identity between these two distinct properties, which represent the quantity of matter in an object, and its weight.

In the theory of general relativity, the equivalence principle is any of several related concepts dealing with the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, and to Albert Einstein's observation that the gravitational "force" as experienced locally while standing on a massive body (such as the Earth) is actually the same as the pseudo-force experienced by an observer in a non-inertial (accelerated) frame of reference.

Experiments performed in a uniformly accelerating reference frame with acceleration a are indistinguishable from the same experiments performed in a non-accelerating reference frame which is situated in a gravitational field where the acceleration of gravity = g = -a = intensity of gravity field.

In theoretical physics, general covariance (also known as diffeomorphism covariance or general invariance) is the invariance of the form of physical laws under arbitrary differentiable coordinate transformations.

General relativity (GR, also known as the general theory of relativity or GTR) is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915[2] and the current description of gravitation in modern physics.

Einstein offered the principle of general covariance as the fundamental physical principle of his general theory of relativity and as responsible for extending the principle of relativity to accelerated motion

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Posts about path to the general theory of relativity written by Gali Weinstein

An adiabatic invariant is a property of a physical system that stays constant when changes occur slowly.

History of the concept of adiabatic invariance; linked to the educational exposition 'The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere'

History of the concept of adiabatic invariance; linked to the educational exposition 'The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere'

History of the concept of adiabatic invariance; linked to the educational exposition 'The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere'