dont astronaughts get older slower than people on earth?
wats the ageing ratio like?
2006-09-23 10:38:38 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Actually, the opposite is true. Due to gravitational time dilation, time passes more quickly for astronauts in space than it does for observers on Earth.
At the risk of oversimplification, according to Eistein's General Theory of Relativity, time passes more slowly for an obsever undergoing acceleration than for an observer who remains at rest, and the faster the accelerated observer goes, the slower time passes. This is what leads people to think time should pass more slowly for the astronauts, since they are whizing through space at thousands of miles per hour. However, Eistein's theory also tells us that acceleration and gravitational fields are equivalent. You notice this effect when you ride in an elevator that is accelerating upward - it feels just as if you weigh more (or as if you were experiencing a stronger gravitational field).
This means that for two observers, one close to a massive body (such as the Earth) and one farther from the massive body (such as an astronaut in space), time will pass more slowly for the observer closer to the massive body (because he is in a strong gravitational field).
The effect of gravitational time dilation on the passage of time for the astronauts is much greater than the effect of their speed through space, so the astronauts actually age faster.
This sounds like science fiction, but gravitational time dilation has been experimentally confirmed. Using extremely precise atomic clocks, scientists have demonstrated that clocks placed on airplanes flying at high altitude run faster than clocks on the ground - by exactly the amount predicted by Einstein's equations.
2006-09-23 13:21:19 · answer #1 · answered by Jack D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The difference really is negligable. And since astronauts are exposed to more cosmic rays and radiation than people on Earth, they are probably a little more likely to get cancer or other problems.
2006-09-23 10:47:33 · answer #2 · answered by kris 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Due to relativity, time is slower the faster ya travel. Since astronauts due from time to time travel faster then th rest of us, tha due age slowr.
But since thay nevr travel near the sped of lite, it really is negligable.
2006-09-23 10:44:52 · answer #3 · answered by mt_hopper 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no
2006-09-23 10:57:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i don't think so?
2006-09-23 10:39:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋