Theory of Relativity

Shhh, can you keep a secret? Before anyone knew my name, I was a hidden rule of the whole wide universe. I am the reason that space and time are best friends who are always connected. Imagine that all of space is like one giant, super-bouncy trampoline. You can jump on it, and it wiggles and jiggles. Now, imagine that time is like a long, sleepy river. Sometimes it flows really fast, and other times, when you're having tons of fun, it seems to slow down. I am the magic that links the bouncy trampoline of space and the flowing river of time together. They stretch and squish and dance with each other, all because of me. For a very long time, I was a cosmic secret, waiting for a curious person to find me hiding in plain sight.

Then, over a hundred years ago, around the year 1905, I finally met my best friend. His name was Albert Einstein. He had wonderfully wild hair and a mind that was always buzzing with big questions. Albert wasn't a great student in school, but he was a fantastic daydreamer. One day, he wondered, 'What would it be like to ride on a beam of light?' Whoosh! He imagined zipping through the universe at top speed. By thinking about this, he discovered something amazing: light is the ultimate speed champion, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can go faster. A few years later, in 1915, he had another brilliant idea. He realized that giant things, like our sun, are so heavy that they make a big dip in the space trampoline. That deep dent is what we feel as gravity! It’s what keeps Earth from floating away. Albert put all these puzzle pieces together and finally understood me. He gave me a name so everyone could know me. He called me the Theory of Relativity.

I might sound like a big idea just for stars and planets, but I have a super-helpful job right here on Earth! Have you ever been in a car while a grown-up used a map on their phone to find the way? That’s me, helping out! High above you, little satellites are zooming around the planet. Because they move so fast, their clocks tick just a tiny bit slower than our clocks down here. They need my rules about time to work perfectly. Without me, those GPS maps would get lost and might tell you to turn into a lake! I am proof that the universe is full of the most amazing puzzles. I hope I remind you that asking questions and being curious, just like my friend Albert, is the very best way to discover incredible new things about our wonderful world.