What do you need to know to understand relativity?

What Are The Prerequisites For General Relativity?

• A basic understanding of special relativity.
• Electromagnetism (optional, but helpful)
• Newtonian mechanics (optional, but helpful)
• A solid understanding of calculus and vectors.
• Basics of linear algebra (optional, but helpful)
• Basics of tensors and differential geometry.

What is importance of tensor in physics?

Tensors have become important in physics because they provide a concise mathematical framework for formulating and solving physics problems in areas such as mechanics (stress, elasticity, fluid mechanics, moment of inertia.), electrodynamics (electromagnetic tensor, Maxwell tensor, permittivity, magnetic …

How does General Relativity explain gravity?

GETTING A GRIP ON GRAVITY Einstein’s general theory of relativity explains gravity as a distortion of space (or more precisely, spacetime) caused by the presence of matter or energy. A massive object generates a gravitational field by warping the geometry of the surrounding spacetime.

How hard is it to understand general relativity?

While relativity has a reputation for being intimidatingly difficult, it’s a peculiar kind of difficulty. Coming at the subject without any preparation, you hear all kinds of crazy things about time dilating and space stretching, and it seems all very recondite and baffling.

Who introduced tensor?

Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro
Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro is inventor of Tensor calculus. The complete answer of the question about the Tensors is as follows: In many areas of mathematical, physical and engineering sciences, it is often necessary to consider two types of quantities.

What is the metric tensor in general relativity?

Metric tensor (general relativity) In general relativity, the metric tensor (in this context often abbreviated to simply the metric) is the fundamental object of study. It may loosely be thought of as a generalization of the gravitational potential of Newtonian gravitation.

How do you create a metric tensor?

The metric tensor is created from the spacetime interval equation. On top of that, [ d x α, d x β] = 0. Suppose we have a 1+1 dimensional spacetime, if you are given an interval equation resembling: Obviously, η 0 0 = − a and η 1 1 = b.

What is the importance of tensors in physics?

Tensors are useful because they provide a formalism that is both coordinate independent and transparent for performing calculations. In particular, tensors facilitate the transformation of partial differential equations and the formulas of vector calculus to their corresponding forms in curvilinear coordinates.

What is the metric used in special relativity?

The flat space metric (or Minkowski metric) is often denoted by the symbol η and is the metric used in special relativity. In the above coordinates, the matrix representation of η is (An alternative convention replaces coordinate