It's called "SPECIAL" because it only applied to objects traveling at constant velocities. All constant velocities are equivalent.
In it, Einstein showed that measurements of spacetime and mass would be different depending on the observer but that these differences only show up at relative speeds close to that of light.
Everything looks normal from the inside but if measured from a different frame of reference - an observer traveling at a different velocity - those changes are evident.
If you see my time going slowly I see yours going slowly as well. If you measure my mass to be larger, I measure your mass to be larger also. Both measurements are correct but essentially unimportant until the two interact.
A decade later, Big Al expanded relativity to include acceleration and gravity fields.
He realized that acceleration and a gravitational field were indistinguishable.
One of the implications of General Theory is that light bends when near an object with large mass.
Not true. Mass curves spacetime so objects and light just follow curved spacetime.
Time is measured to travel more slowly in spactime that has more curvature. Bigger gravitational field strength means slower time.
Can spacetime curve enough that it twists inward on itself so much that time stops and nothing moves?
Black Holes:
BREAKING NEWS. An Einstein of the nineteen teens was just verified earlier this year with a direct measurement of gravity waves. Big Al really did have an impressive brain.
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity still has a lot for us.
Next time. Special and General Relativity in Science Fiction.
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