A Century of General Relativity. Part II: What Good is Relativity?
People often question, “What Good is Relativity?” It is commonplace to think of Relativity as an abstract and highly arcane mathematical theory that has no consequences for everyday life. Nothing is further away from truth.
This is the second part of the series: ‘A Century of General Relativity’. Please read the first one here: Part I: History and Intuition.
This blog covers why without relativity, modern day GPS systems won’t work!
Without relativity, modern day GPS systems won’t work!
Quick Introduction to GPS
All modern navigation systems including the airplanes are equipped with GPS systems. These systems provide your latitude, longitude and altitude on earth to an accuracy of 5 to 10 meters.
The current GPS configuration consists of a network of 24 satellites in high orbits around the Earth. Each satellite in the GPS constellation orbits at an altitude of about 20,000 km from the ground and has an orbital speed of about 14,000 km/hour.
The orbital period…
