How to Use special relativity in a Sentence

special relativity

noun
  • In special relativity, the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit to the universe.
    — Paul M. Sutter, Discover Magazine, 23 Feb. 2023
  • More specifically, though, special relativity states that no object with mass can match (or exceed) the speed of light.
    — Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 1 May 2013
  • The arena of special relativity is today known as Minkowski space-time.
    — Sean Carroll, Quanta Magazine, 14 Nov. 2022
  • That's the key idea of Einstein's theory of special relativity.
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 2 Apr. 2021
  • Our route into special relativity might be thought of as top-down, taking the idea of a unified space-time seriously from the get-go and seeing what that implies.
    — Sean Carroll, Quanta Magazine, 14 Nov. 2022
  • Each of these seemed to satisfy the requirements of both quantum mechanics and special relativity — two of nature’s acid tests.
    — George Johnson, SFChronicle.com, 29 Feb. 2020
  • Entanglement seems to violate special relativity, which says that effects cannot propagate faster than the speed of light.
    — John Horgan, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2022
  • The answer once again comes from special relativity, which says that the faster an object moves, the slower time passes for it (at least relative to an outside observer).
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Indeed, Einstein was not the first person to wonder if time is an illusion — and his own theory of special relativity may make the statement plausible.
    — Paul M. Sutter, Discover Magazine, 7 July 2023
  • From discovering that Earth is a sphere to the theory of special relativity, science has readjusted our grasp of reality time and again.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2015
  • The traveler uses the length-contraction equation of special relativity to measure distance.
    — Ronald C. Lasky, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2014
  • Of course, that isn't possible; according to Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, nothing with mass can move at the speed of light or faster.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 16 June 2026
  • Near the speed of light, special relativity wreaks havoc on clocks and time, obliterating the concept of simultaneity among observers traveling at different speeds.
    — Peter Gosselin, Harpers Magazine, 30 June 2026
  • Our idea is to take advantage of these features of special relativity to observe familiar objects in the relativistic camera’s different spacetime rest frame.
    — Scientific American, 3 July 2018
  • Compare this with the ground rules, or axioms, of Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which was as revolutionary in its way as quantum mechanics.
    — Quanta Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Einstein’s theory came to be known as the special theory of relativity, or simply special relativity.
    — Sean Carroll, Quanta Magazine, 14 Nov. 2022
  • But the acceleration incurred by the traveler is incidental, and the paradox can be unraveled by special relativity alone.
    — Ronald C. Lasky, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2014
  • These fields allow particles to appear and disappear, all in accordance with both the strict dictates of Einstein’s special relativity and the probabilistic laws of the quantum world.
    — Adam Becker, Scientific American, 22 Nov. 2022
  • Las Vegas was founded the year Einstein formulated his theory of special relativity.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 2 July 2019
  • General relativity grew out of Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which describes how the speed of light (in a vacuum) can always be constant.
    — Devin Powell, Discover Magazine, 24 May 2019
  • But such a phenomenon should be impossible, because Einstein’s theory of special relativity shows that no influence can propagate faster than light.
    — Quanta Magazine, 25 June 2018
  • Weinberg showed that special relativity and quantum mechanics put striking restrictions on the interactions of massless particles.
    — Quanta Magazine, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Since special relativity is based on standard mathematical assumptions of continuity, this is not surprising.
    — Quanta Magazine, 30 June 2016
  • And yet, Einstein’s key insights, and the profundity of special relativity, were lauded and marveled at by even the physicists who had discovered the transformations previously.
    — Big Think, 5 Nov. 2025
  • To escape the gravitational grip of a black hole from this point, matter would have to accelerate to a speed faster than the speed of light, which Einstein's theory of special relativity tells us would require infinite energy.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 26 June 2026
  • This cosmic expansion doesn’t actually consist of anything exceeding the speed of light, as the limits of special relativity (which limit speeds to a limit of the speed of light) are confined to two objects passing each other at the same location in space.
    — Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The two appear to behave the same way to within a tiny uncertainty, and in a convoluted way the result supports the foundation of Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity.
    — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, 4 Apr. 2018
  • In 1905, Einstein outlined his theory of special relativity, which established that the laws of physics apply throughout the universe, the speed of light is constant and nothing travels fasters than light.
    — Rasha Aridi, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Oct. 2020
  • In the 1920s, physicist Paul Dirac was trying to force two very different worlds — quantum mechanics (the rules of the very small) and special relativity (the rules of the very fast) — to play together.
    — Paul Sutter, Space.com, 18 Jan. 2026
  • The biggest differences between special relativity and general relativity are as follows.
    — Big Think, 1 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'special relativity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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