What are the arguments against the theory of relativity.?

Question

I am only interested in arguments against! For example arguments that try to prove it wrong. I am especially interested in twin paradox.

Answer 1

There are none. It is a proven theory.

The so called twin paradox is entirely consistent with relativity. The paradox exists in the phrasing of the problem, in which it is implied that two reference frames are involved so that it is symmetric. In fact, three are involved and the problem is not symmetric - there is no paradox.

Answer 2

The twin paradox is not a argument against relativity.  It is easily explained and has even been tested.  By using atomic clocks, one on the earth and one in orbit, they have shown that two twins will have different shifts in their time if they travel at different speeds, just as the theory of relativity predicts.  In fact, GPS (global positioning) takes into account these corrections and would not otherwise work.  So I don't see how you can say the twin paradox is an argument against relativity, when it is easily explained by relativity and has been tested and proven to not contradict relativity.

Answer 3

You are not asked to accept any theory as religious dogma. You are free to test its predictions yourself.

You will not, however, find any credible scientist who "does not agree" with Relativity because it is so well supported by experiment (meaning, so often tested and never failed).

The twin paradox is not an argument against Relativity. It is a basic illustration of its properties. It is only a "paradox" in the sense that it is contrary to most people's common sense. You say, "One that for majority of scholars theory is able to cope with." This is an incorrect statement. The theory either "copes with it" or not. It is not a matter of opinion, for scholars or anyone else. Either the logic works, or it does not, and this again can be verified by you personally without having to take it as dogma. In this case, the logic does work, regardless of anyone's opinion about it. You can find it in any basic technical book on Relativity (I recommend David Mermin's "Space, Time and Relativity).

Scientists *do* look at Relativity as "the best model of the world we currently have, prone to mistakes and errors." However, we know very well where those errors are, and they are not in the Twin Paradox. They exist in the fact that Relativity is not a quantum theory (and the universe is known to be quantum) and in the singularities Relativity describes at the centres of black holes and at the beginning of the universe, before it was 10^-35 seconds old. We are constantly looking for a theory of quantum gravity, but none has been found yet. But for distances larger than a picometer and times after t=10^-35, Relativity has been tested repeatedly in the lab and never has failed.

Answer 4

Einstein himself stated that ultimately theories are not truth, but rather one way of describing the behavior of the universe, and not necessarily the ONLY way.

In science, theories are evaluated based on their ability to both explain AND make predictions.

Newton's theory of motion was very good.  And for a very long time it passed every experiement anyone could conduct.  Until one day someone noticed that it failed to accurately predict the behavior of things moving at or near the speed of light.

Then the Theory of Relativity came along and was able to describe both classic Newtonian motion AND the behavior of things moving at or near the speed of light.  And it's since been upheld in all the experiments anyone has done to date.

Does that mean one day someone might not conduct an experiment that relativity can't explain?  Of course not.  It's just the best theory to date, because NOBODY has been able to do an experiment that defied it.

But there is hope that one day someone WILL do such an experiment and a new theory will emerge to replace relativity.  One such proposed theory is "String" theory.  One of the fundamental short comings of Relativity that it fails to make useful predictions for relativistic motion at the quantum level (such as in the center of a black hole).  String theory seeks to resolve these questions.  But sadly, nobody has found a way to TEST these theories, in part because nobody knows how to do experiments inside a black hole, yet.  Maybe one day we'll be able to test relavity at the quantum level, and then we'll have more answers.

There are also experiments being done today to measure the effect of "frame dragging" which is a key prediction of general relativity.  Early tests suggest that general relativity's predictions are accurate... but other scientists feel futher tests with a higher degree of accuracy are needed before they are convinced that other theories couldn't explain the same observations.