Physical Science

Quarter 2 – Module
6: General
Relativity
PERFORMANCE STANDARD: The learners should be able
to create a video presentation that details the impact of the
Theory of Relativity to human.
LEARNING COMPETENCIES: The learners must explain
the consequences of the postulates of General Relativity
(eg. correct predictions of shifts in the orbit of Mercury,
gravitational bending of light, and black holes)
CODE:S11/12PS-IVi-j-71
• Lesson 1 – The Modern Theory of Gravitation After
going through this module, you are expected to:
1. Describe gravity based on General Relativity.
2. Explain the consequences of the postulates of General
Relativity.
3. Determine how General Relativity can be observed in real
life situations.
Albert Einstein’s happiest thought of his life In
1907, while Albert Einstein was sitting in the
patent office, he envisioned a person falling from
the roof of a building. He later considered this idea
as "the happiest thought of his life, because
he was imagining that as the person was
falling, he became weightless.
That by going free fall, there will be no
gravitational force.
This idea refers to Einstein’s Principle of
Equivalence, which states that gravity is
equivalent to a uniformly accelerated
reference frame and served as the backbone
The General Theory of Relativity
is a fundamental theory of gravity
formulated by Albert Einstein and
published in 1915. It expanded upon
his earlier work in special relativity
and provided a new way of
understanding how gravity works.
According to General Relativity:
1.Space-time is the fabric that combines both space and time into a single
concept. You can think of it as a four-dimensional "stage" where all events in
the universe take place.
2.Mass (like the Sun) "curves" this space-time fabric. The more massive an
object, the more it distorts the space-time around it.
3.The Earth doesn't orbit the Sun because it's being "pulled" by the Sun in
the way we might think of a force. Instead, the Sun's massive presence
curves the space-time around it.
4.Earth follows the curved paths in space-time, which we observe as
orbits. The Earth is not being pulled in the traditional sense; it's just moving
along a path determined by the curvature of space-time around the Sun.
So, instead of thinking of gravity as a force pulling Earth towards the Sun, it's
better to think of gravity as the Sun creating a sort of "dent" or "well" in the
fabric of space-time.
Earth moves in this curved space-time, and what we observe as orbiting is
simply Earth following the curved path that the Sun's mass has created in the
fabric of space-time.
Equivalence Principle
•One of the core ideas of general relativity
is the equivalence principle, which
states that gravitational acceleration
and acceleration due to motion are
indistinguishable.
•For example, if you're inside a sealed
spaceship, you wouldn’t be able to tell
whether you're experiencing gravity or
simply being accelerated in space.
•This equivalence between gravity and acceleration is what
led Einstein to rethink the nature of gravity. Instead of gravity
being a force that pulls objects, he proposed that gravity is a
result of the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy.
In simpler terms:
•If you're in a uniformly accelerating spaceship, you'd feel a force
pressing you toward the back of the spaceship.
•If you were in a stationary room on Earth, you'd feel the force of
gravity pulling you toward the ground.
•The Principle of Equivalence says that locally (in a small
enough region), these two experiences are the same. There’s no
experiment you can perform that would tell you whether you’re
experiencing gravity or acceleration.
This realization was the foundation of General Relativity,
where gravity isn't just a force, but a consequence of
objects moving through curved spacetime.
In Summary:
The General Theory of Relativity
fundamentally changed our
understanding of gravity by describing it
as the curvature of space-time
caused by mass and energy, rather
than as a force in the traditional sense.
It revolutionized our understanding of the
cosmos, providing insights into
everything from planetary orbits to black
holes and the fabric of the universe itself.
General Relativity, deals with non-
inertial or accelerating frames of
reference.
In this theory, Einstein did not consider
gravity as a force but a product of the
warping or curving of space-time.
This idea is contrary to Isaac Newton’s
Law of Universal Gravitation, in which
gravity is viewed as a force of attraction
between objects due to their masses.
Space-time is a four-
dimensional continuum
composed of the three
dimensional space
and one dimension of
time.
Warping or curving of space-
time can be simulated with the
use of a fabric. Rolling a ball
across the fabric makes it move in
a straight line motion. But if
you place a heavier ball or object
at the center, the fabric it will
become distorted. Once you roll
a ball again, it will no longer move
in a straight line. Hence, it will
follow a curved path around the
heavier ball at the middle and
This fabric analogy helps us visualize the warping of
space-time.
Space-time is like a fabric that can be deformed. It is
uncurved or flat at any region away from a massive
cosmic body. But in the presence of a massive cosmic
body such as stars, the space-time will be distorted
creating a depression.
If another cosmic body is near the warped space time, it
will move around the larger body instead of falling
straight down the center of the curvature.
Moreover, General Relativity explains the warping
of space-time quantitatively defining how the mass
and energy of a cosmic body determines the shape
of the space-time.
The greater the mass of a cosmic body, the greater
The Various Evidence for General Theory
of Relativity
The Correct Prediction of Shifts in the Orbit of Mercury On
the previous lesson, you have learned that there is a large
shift in the orbit of Mercury compared to the other
planets in the solar system.
Its perihelion advances two degrees per century.
Perturbation or the effects of nearby planets is
accounted to 531 arcsec per century shift which is calculated
using Newtonian Gravitation.
However, there is a 43 arcsec per century discrepancy
from the actual computation during the modern times.
This discrepancy lead to Einstein’s explanation of perihelion
shift and that shifting is a result of the warping of space-time.
43 arcsec per century" refers to a rate of angular change
over time, typically used in astronomy to describe the rate at
which an object's position in the sky changes. Specifically, it
means that the object's position is changing by 43 arcseconds
(a unit of angular measurement) every century (100 years).
Breaking it down:
•Arcsecond (arcsec): An arcsecond is a unit of angular
measurement, where 1 arcsecond is equal to 1/3600 of a
degree. There are 3600 arcseconds in a single degree.
•Per century: This means that the angular change is
measured over a period of 100 years.
For example, if an object (like a star or planet) is moving at a
rate of 43 arcseconds per century, it means that over the
course of 100 years, the object's apparent position in the sky
shifts by 43 arcseconds.
Common Context:
This type of measurement is often used to describe:
•The motion of stars or planets (proper motion).
•The gradual change in the orientation of celestial objects due
to long-term phenomena like precession.
❖ Gravitational Bending of Light
Gravitational lensing happens as light
emitted by distant stars or galaxies
bends following the curvature of space-
time created by a massive object in the
universe.
Arthur S. Eddington, a British
astronomer conducted two expeditions
in 1919 to measure the gravitational
deflection of light passing near the sun.
He followed Einstein’s suggestion that
photographic observations can be done
during a solar eclipse. The two
expeditions are both successful,
 Black Hole German astronomer, Karl
Schwarzschild was the first to use the
general relativity in predicting that a
sufficiently massive body can deform
space-time and that lead to his idea of the
existence of black holes.
Black holes are extremely dense collapsed
star that not even light can escape from its
gravitational field. Anything must surpass the
escape velocity of the black hole in order to
free itself from the gravitational attraction
and escape into space. A dense neutron star
has an escape velocity equal to c or the
speed of light. This means that not even light
Global Positioning System or GPS, originally
known as NAVSTAR GPS, was invented by Dr. Ivan
Getting and the US Department of Defense.
It was designed for military navigation and it is
composed of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth at
4000 meters per second (m/s).
Each of the 24 satellites carries a highly stable and
synchronized atomic clocks.
Each clock measures the time for radio signals to
travel from the satellite to a receiver on Earth.
Nowadays, GPS is widely used in cars and cellular
phones as it gives accurate readings of position and
speed. Due to the satellites’ constant motion relative to
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is a
satellite-based navigation system that allows devices
to determine their exact location (latitude, longitude,
and altitude) anywhere on Earth. GPS works by using
a network of at least 24 satellites orbiting the Earth.
These satellites continuously send signals to GPS
receivers on the ground. The GPS receiver uses the
signals from multiple satellites to triangulate its
position and provide accurate location information.
Einstein’s theory of gravity, known as General Relativity, fundamentally changed the way we understand gravity.
Before Einstein, gravity was seen as a force, as described by Newton. According to Newton, gravity was a force
that objects exert on each other based on their masses and the distance between them.
Einstein, however, introduced a new concept where gravity is not a force in the traditional sense. Instead,
gravity is the result of the curvature or warping of space-time caused by the presence of mass and energy.
Here’s what that means:
1.Space-time: This is a four-dimensional framework that combines the three dimensions of space (length, width,
height) and one of time. You can think of space-time as a fabric that is flexible and can be warped or bent.
2.Mass and Energy Warping Space-time: According to Einstein, massive objects like the Earth, the Sun, or
even light, cause space-time to curve around them. The more massive an object, the greater the curvature. For
example, the Sun’s immense mass bends space-time in such a way that Earth and other planets move in curved
orbits around it.
3.Objects Move Along Curved Paths: Instead of thinking of gravity as a force pulling objects together, Einstein
said that objects move along the curved space-time. When we see an apple falling from a tree, it's not because a
"force" is pulling it toward the Earth; rather, the Earth’s mass curves space-time, and the apple follows a path (a
"geodesic") within that curved space-time.
4.No Force, Just Curvature: The key idea is that there’s no invisible force "pulling" objects. Objects simply
follow the natural curvature of space-time, which we perceive as gravity. The more mass an object has, the more
it bends space-time, and the stronger the effect on nearby objects.
In simple terms, gravity, according to Einstein, is not something that acts between two objects but rather a result
of the way mass and energy distort the space-time around them. This idea was confirmed by experimental
evidence, like the bending of light around the Sun, and has had profound effects on our understanding of the
universe.