What is mass in general theory of relativity?
relativistic mass, in the special theory of relativity, the mass that is assigned to a body in motion. The relativistic mass m becomes infinite as the velocity of the body approaches the speed of light, so, even if large momentum and energy are arbitrarily supplied to a body, its velocity always remains less than c.
What is weight according to general relativity?
general-relativity gravity weight. The gravitational force on your body, called your weight, pushes you down onto the floor. W=mg.
Why does mass affect spacetime?
Gravitational time dilation occurs because objects with a lot of mass create a strong gravitational field. The gravitational field is really a curving of space and time. The stronger the gravity, the more spacetime curves, and the slower time itself proceeds.
Does spacetime have mass?
Mass is not a property of space (or space-time itself), but of physical objects in classical physics. In General relativity, it is difficult to speak about mass clearly, there is no good general definitions.
What does general relativity explain?
The general theory of relativity (or general relativity for short) is a major building block of modern physics. It explains gravity based on the way space can ‘curve’, or, to put it more accurately, it associates the force of gravity with the changing geometry of space-time.
Why is mass attracted to mass?
Since the gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of both interacting objects, more massive objects will attract each other with a greater gravitational force. So as the mass of either object increases, the force of gravitational attraction between them also increases.
Can gravity bend light?
Gravity bends light Light travels through spacetime, which can be warped and curved—so light should dip and curve in the presence of massive objects. This effect is known as gravitational lensing GLOSSARY gravitational lensingThe bending of light caused by gravity .
Does force have mass?
F is force, m is mass and a is acceleration. The math behind this is quite simple. If you double the force, you double the acceleration, but if you double the mass, you cut the acceleration in half.
What is general relativity used for?
The theory explains the behavior of objects in space and time, and it can be used to predict everything from the existence of black holes, to light bending due to gravity, to the behavior of the planet Mercury in its orbit.
What is the importance of general relativity?
General relativity has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding of black holes, regions of space where the gravitational effect is strong enough that even light cannot escape.
Is it possible to define mass in general relativity?
Generalizing this definition to general relativity, however, is problematic; in fact, it turns out to be impossible to find a general definition for a system’s total mass (or energy).
How does the Komar mass relate to general relativity?
While general space-times lack a finite-parameter time-translation symmetry, stationary space-times have such a symmetry, known as a Killing vector. Noether’s theorem proves that such stationary space-times must have an associated conserved energy. This conserved energy defines a conserved mass, the Komar mass.
Why is the group structure of general relativity wrong?
Because General Relativity is a diffeomorphism invariant theory, it has an infinite continuous group of symmetries rather than a finite-parameter group of symmetries, and hence has the wrong group structure to guarantee a conserved energy.
