📚 Learning Guide
Einstein's Theory of Relativity
hard

How does Einstein's Theory of Relativity explain the impact of gravity on time dilation as compared to the speed of light?

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Choose the Best Answer

A

Time moves slower in stronger gravitational fields, affecting light speed.

B

Time moves faster in stronger gravitational fields, but light speed remains constant.

C

Both time and light speed are unaffected by gravity.

D

Time moves slower in stronger gravitational fields, while light speed is constant regardless of gravity.

Understanding the Answer

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Answer

Einstein’s theory says that massive objects bend the fabric of spacetime, and this bending changes how fast clocks tick. In a strong gravitational field, the curvature is greater, so time itself runs more slowly than it does farther away from the mass. This effect, called gravitational time dilation, is independent of the speed of light, which remains constant at about 300 000 km/s in all frames. The reasoning is that the deeper you are in a gravitational well, the more the spacetime metric is altered, causing time intervals to stretch. For example, GPS satellites orbiting Earth experience weaker gravity and their onboard clocks tick slightly faster than clocks on the ground, a difference that must be corrected for accurate positioning.

Detailed Explanation

Gravity makes time tick more slowly when the gravitational pull is strong. Other options are incorrect because The mistake is thinking that gravity changes light’s speed; This answer says gravity makes time faster, which is the opposite of what actually happens.

Key Concepts

time dilation
the speed of light
gravitational effects
Topic

Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Difficulty

hard level question

Cognitive Level

understand

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