What is the speed we are moving in the universe?

Question

We all know that time slows down when an object travels to the speed of light. However, what is the speed we are all travelling in at present. If we are not moving, will time move at an infinite speed?

Will we grow old immediately?

Let me explain a little more.

The faster we move, say in a super fast spacecraft, time in us will slow down. So we will travel into the future if we travel near the spee of light.

However, while we are not travelling in any superfast spacecraft now, we are still moving in time. From yseterday to today and so on. So, the logic is, we must still be moving to allow us to move forward in time.

So, my question is, what is the speed we are all moving now? And if we are not moving, will the time in us become so fast, that we become old people in A VERY SHORT TIME.

I hope yo all get what I am saying. Sorry if you don't. No offence intended.

Answer 1

Ah yes...the time dilation problem.

Well my young friend we are traveling at no where near the speed of light, relative to the big bang where everything started. Until you start traveling at say 90% of the speed of light its effects(relative to an observer watching from outside your direction of motion) are quite small. for example, the space shuttle orbits the earth at about 17,500 mph relative to Cape Kennedy's speed. When they land, their perfectly timed atomic clocks would be out less than 1 second after a 10 day flight. You really have to be moving, relative to your observer to create a noticeable time dilation factor.

Your question also suggests that you have a somewhat Newtonian idea of time. There really is no such thing as time as such...physicists speak of space-time. I suggest that you do a little research into the difference. It is fun, stimulating and hey I like a curious mind.

People who are unafraid to ask naive questions are the people who will become our next line of physicists...good luck

Answer 2

Anything that involves time and movement through space involves the theory of relativity. That is, you can only say you are moving at such-and-such a speed relative to some external reference point. So you could say that we are moving at 0.4c (that is, 40% of the speed of light) relative to some distant galaxies if we pick them as the point of reference. If we assume that the center of the Milky Way galaxy is our reference point, then we are actually spinning around the center of the universe at a million miles and hour or so. Or you could pick the Earth itself as your point of reference and say that we don't move at all and the rest of the universe is zinging off in all directions relative to us.

Also, according to Einstein, everything moves at the speed of light. The only thing is that if you pick yourself as the point of reference, then you are stationary in space and moving at the speed of light through the dimension of time. If you then get in a really big rocket and start accelerating in some direction, the faster you go, the more that the spatial component of your movement takes away from the temporal component -- you experience less of the passage of time the closer you get to the speed of light. If you were to theoretically reach the speed of light, time itself would stop (another good reason why it's not possible) You don't notice this effect because we haven't gotten to anywhere near the speeds where relativistic effects become apparent -- driving fast down the highway for an hour means you'd lose maybe a trillionth of a second (I don't know the actual number, because I don't feel like trying to do the math, but you get the idea)

Answer 3

One of my mates did a project to determine the speed at which we are moving relative to the rest of the universe. I think he found we are moving at about 300Km/s in the direction of Shakleys supercluster. Anyhow, that doesn't matter because we are talking about relative speeds anyway.

But to answer your question the maximum speed at which we travel in any dimension, be it one of the three space or the time dimension is the speed of light - time can never move at an infinite speed because of this restriction. If we are at rest in all three spatial dimensions we are travelling at the speed of light in time.

Answer 4

Velocity is relative. There is no absolute velocity. In order to determine how fast the earth is moving through space, presumably as a result of the Big Bang, we must measure our velocity relative to another moving reference. There is no way of getting around this.

Answer 5

*Chuckles* Enistine had a dream about a herd of cows eating grass while he was watching them from both a train, and while he was at the train station.

This dream is what gave him the idea of Relativity.

We are traveling at a speed somewhere between "zero degrees Celsius" where all motion stops and "Light-speed"- the speed of the electromagnetic spectrum such as light and radio waves.

So, the next question is- what are you compairing this speed too?

Answer 6

Speed with respect to what? Speed is the difference between the object being measured and the frame of reference. Einstein showed that there is no preferred frame of reference, so there is no unique answer to the question.

Answer 7

I assume by "we", you mean the "Earth". The speed of an object can only be defined with respect to a frame of reference. At the time of Maxwell, it was believed that there exists an absolute frame of reference called "ether" with respect to which we could measure the "absolute velocity" of everything. However subsequently, experiments performed by Michelson and Morley disproved the existence of any "absolute" ether. It was subsequently established by Einstein through his theories of relativity that any frame of reference is just as good as any other as long as we specify which frame of reference we are seaking about. So......what is the frame of reference you wish to measure the velocity of earth against?

Answer 8

All the planets r revolving around the sun with sun as one of its focii according to kepler's laws.It takes 365 1/4 days to complete one revolution around sun and 24 hrs about itself.we koow the distance and time to calculate the speed od earth which is given in terms of light years.

Answer 9

time slows down as as object moves RELATIVE to another object that also measures time. Relative to us, we are not moving at all. but time still moves.

There is an equation derived from the special theory of relativity:

Time of moving object = our time (sq rt [1- {v/c} squared ] )

where v=velocity of object relative to us. This mean time flows more slowly for an object RELATIVE to us, and that the rate of time flow for us would still not be infinite

Answer 10

Do you mean at what speed are we orbiting the sun?
I dont ever think Ive heard any one ask that, Good Question!
Distance orbited in one year,
sorry I dont know the miles , Does anybody know the miles?