Notebook Page 42-B:

Relativity and
Quantum Mechanics
Period 4: 1900 CE – Present
 19 -Century
th Positivism
By the 19th century, advances in science, tech., and industry had scientists and philosophers
believing they were progressively approaching a complete understanding of the universe

To Auguste Comte and others, Westerners were on the verge of figuring out all of the universal laws that
governed how the world worked, and how human society worked; this outlook was known as positivism

Roughly speaking, positivism, they believed, progressed in three phases:

1. Theological stage (the phase in which the world is understood through more complex ideas and thoughts,
usually guided by a codified, universal set of beliefs and hierarchy)
2. Metaphysical stage (the phase guided by rational and scientific thought, proof, and understanding through
the physical sciences)
3. Positive stage (the phase in which the central idea of society is individual rights through the development
and understanding of social science)

Through the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions life was becoming easier, and with the Enlightenment
and capitalism, societies more affluent, free, and safe—and in this regard, they were correct

This ideal was held optimistically until the early 20th century, when abstract scientific discoveries and the
human attrocities of WWI shattered the idea that the universe or society could be perfected, and also the notion
that all humans were inherently good and optimistically progressing to a harmonious, individuated society
 Relativity in Science
By the 1900s, Western society had drastically advanced science and modernization

Based on what they knew at the time, they believed there were certain
basic laws of the universe that they could understand, control, and manipulate

Starting in 1905, Albert Einstein released a series of papers that complete rejected
all notions of known scientific law and restructured our understanding of the universe

Einstein argued time and space were not constant—they were relative--always changing,
and dependent on the situation (known as relativity)

For example, Einstein asserted (correctly) that gravity impacted the progression of time (i.e.,
the more intense the gravity, the slower time passed—all without the observer noticing). This
meant, one who spends their lives in high gravity ages far slower than someone in low gravity

The same was true of speed: the faster one moves; the slower time progresses. Essentially, this
meant if one could travel at the speed of light (the max speed), time would stop for that person

Discoveries in science regarding relativity and the field of quantum mechanics (spearheaded by
Max Planck) would no longer provide simple, constant solutions to the operations of the world
3-D Visualization of Gravity
 Ground-breaking Discoveries

Knowledge-shattering theories/discoveries
• Time, space, and gravity are relative and interactive
• Space and time are related and limited the speed of light
• Time and space could bend and tear (black/white holes
and worm holes)
• Energy and matter are interchangeable
• (E = mc^2) – matter could convert to energy
• Atoms were not the smallest particles (discovery of electrons)
• Light behaved differently (sometimes waves, sometimes particles)
• Subatomic particles and light demonstrated all possibilities at once (only existed in one spot when
measured)

In short, scientists discovered we have no control over the randomness of the universe, and could not ‘master’ or
completely understand it much like they had hoped to during their advancements in the centuries prior