I am in high school now and I want to get the basic idea of what relativity. Can anyone suggest me a book or website for it? I am also curious about the mathematics behind it. Is it possible for me to understand relativity in mathematical terms while still in high school? (Let's assume I know everything till Grade 12)
2 Answers
For online sources, there are some good introductions to special relativity here and here. For a print book An Illustrated Guide to Relativity seems like a good intro. Another good one is Spacetime Physics by Wheeler and Taylor, which I think for the most part just requires algebra though there may be some sections/problems that use some basic calculus. General relativity can't really be understood in depth with grade 12 math, but the book General Relativity from A to B is a good conceptual introduction. Also some good conceptual explanations on this site. And if your high school taught you some calculus, that is enough to get started on analyzing particular solutions in general relativity even if it's not enough for the full theory (which requires differential geometry using tensors)--see the book Exploring Black Holes by Wheeler and Taylor. Timaeus also mentions in a comment that Schutz's Gravity from the Ground Up is another good introduction to general relativity that doesn't require more advanced mathematical knowledge, one of the amazon reviews mentions it doesn't require math beyond basic algebra, and to some extent substituted downloadable computer simulations for analyses that would otherwise require more math.
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It's not uncommon for high school physics course to have a unit on Special Relativity so the easiest place to start might just be the relativity chapter in your physics text. One of the beauties of Special Relativity is that you can go a long with math no more complicated that you would cover in high school.
General Relativity, which deals Gravitation and acceleration, is much more involved mathematically.
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