Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Classical tests of general
relativity The classical tests of general relativity are the
direct consequences for experimental verification of the theory
of general relativity about gravitational interaction. Three
possible types of experiments are proposed soon after
publication of the Einstein field equations in 1916, a fourth
test is added much later. They are - Gravitational redshift or
Einstein shift(clocks in a gravitational field observed from a
distance tick slower), - Deflection of light (when light passes
near a mass concentration such as the Sun, its path is slightly
bent, also called gravitational lensing), - Perihelion shift of
the planet Mercury (the deviation from Kepler-orbits of a test
mass (such as a planet) around a massive object such as the Sun)
- Time delay in radar propagation near the Sun The gravitational
redshift is a simple consequence of the Einstein equivalence
principle and was found by Albert Einstein eight years before
the full theory. It is a di