a spaceship travels with half a speed of light for fiftteen years for a distant planet and will come back to earth another fiftteen years,for astronauts it has been thirty years.how many years has passed for peolpe living on earth?
2006-07-09 12:13:01 · 4 answers · asked by ssob009 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The time dilation formula is T=t*gamma
where gamma is 1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)
If v is .5c, then gamma is 1/sqrt(1-.5^2) = about 1.15
So if the astronauts see 30 years go by, a stationary observer back on Earth would see 34.5 years go by.
2006-07-09 14:32:15 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Einstein's equations show that the effects of time get really obvious when you move closer to 99 percent of the speed of light. At that speed, a 30 year round trip would see the passage of over a million years for people on earth. Traveling for 30 years at half lightspeed, I don't think the the time difference would be very much.
2006-07-09 19:29:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You see, it doesn't work like that. Just because you're moving at half the speed of light, doesn't mean time is also moving at half. Time is actually 86.6% as fast. But for people on Earth, it's 60 years.
2006-07-09 19:32:04 · answer #3 · answered by Science_Guy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
whatcha mean by that
2006-07-09 19:17:07 · answer #4 · answered by dance_da_star 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋