Relativity is, without any doubt, one of the most well-known scientific theories of the 20th century, but how well can we see observe it in our daily lives? Here are 5 ways you can see Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in real life:
Global Positioning System
In order for your car's GPS navigation to work as precisely as it does, satellites in earth’s orbit have to take some relativistic effects into account even though satellites aren't moving at anything near to the speed of light, they are still going pretty fast. The satellites are also transferring signals to ground stations on Earth’s surface. These ground stations (and the GPS component fixed in your car) are all undergoing higher accelerations due to gravity than the satellites in orbit.
To get that pinpoint precision, the satellites use clocks that are precise to a few billionths of a second. As each satellite is 12,600 miles (almost 20,300 kilometers) above Earth and travels at about 6,000 miles per hour (10,000 km/h), there's an awesome relativistic time dilation that tacks on almost 4 microseconds every day. After adding in the effects of gravity and the number goes up to nearly 7 microseconds. That's about 7,000 nanoseconds.
The variance is very real: if no relativistic effects were occurred, a GPS unit that tells you it's a half mile (0.8 km) to the next destination would be about 5 miles (8 km) off after simply one day.
Gold's Yellow Color
Many metals are glittery as the electrons in the atoms jump from diverse energy levels, or also known "orbitals." Some photons that smash the metal get absorbed and re-discharged, at a longer wavelength. Most detectable light, however, just gets reflected.
Gold is quite a heavy atom, so the inner electrons are stirring fast enough that the relativistic mass increase is noteworthy, along with the length contraction. As a consequence, the electrons are rotating around the nucleus in smaller paths, with extra momentum. Electrons in the inner orbitals transfer energy that is closer to the energy of outer electrons, and the wavelengths that get absorbed and reproduced quite are longer.
Longer wavelengths of light mean that a little of the visible light that would typically just be redirected gets absorbed, and that light is in the blue end of the spectrum. White light is a combination of all the colors of the rainbow, but in case of gold, when light gets absorbed and redirected the wavelengths are generally longer. That means the combination of light waves we see tends to have seemingly less blue and violet in it. This is the reason gold look yellowish in color since yellow, orange and red light is a lengthier wavelength than blue.
Gold Doesn't Corrode Easily
The relativistic effect on gold's electrons is also accountable for one more property of gold that the metal doesn't rust or react with anything else quite easily. Gold has just one electron in its external shell, but it still is not as responsive or reactive as calcium or lithium. As an alternative, the electrons in gold, being "heavier", are all detained closer to the atomic nucleus. This is the reason that the outermost electron isn't expected to be in a place where it can react with whatsoever at all — it's just as probable as to be amid its corresponding electrons that are close to the nucleus.
Mercury Is a Liquid
Just like gold, mercury is also a heavy atom, with electrons seized close to the nucleus because of their speed and consequential mass upsurge. With mercury, the bonds between its atoms are weak, so mercury liquefies at lower temperatures and is normally a liquid when we see it.
Your Old TV
Few years ago maximum number of televisions and monitors had cathode ray tube (CRT) screens. A cathode ray tube works by firing electrons at a phosphor exterior with a huge magnet. Each electron creates a lighted pixel when it smashes the back of the screen. The electrons fired out to create the picture move at up to 30 percent the speed of light. Relativistic effects are obvious, and when makers made the magnets, they certainly had to take those effects into account.
