What Is Space-Time? Einstein's Theory of Time and Gravity Explained

Einstein’s theory of general relativity views time similarly to width, height, and length. As such, both time and space can be curved by gravity. This effectively means that time is slower the closer you are to an object with a strong gravitational pull.

Space-time compression and space-time differ from each other. Space-time compression focuses on how the world seems smaller now that we have more access to it, not time in space.

Space-time vs. Earth time depends on where you are in space. If you're near an event horizon, time will be much different than on Earth.

Days sometimes may feel like mere hours when times are good, and the moments may barely tick by in a dull day, but the passage of Earth around the sun hasn’t changed in an easily measurable way since humans first started using sundials.

But about half a century after Big Ben was built in London, marking the center of Greenwich Mean Time, Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity changed the way that scientists think about time. Suddenly, as his theory suggests, the way people experience time might change depending on their location. Humans rocketing through space age more slowly than those trying to stay forever young on the planet’s surface.

Leave a Comment