A Earth-like planet is 20 light yrs away. People in the news media say it would take 800,000 years to get there, but I took Physics in High school, and learned about special relativity (relativity in inertial reference frames). If a spaceship could accelerate at the rate of 1g (9.8 m/s2) it could reach near light speed in one year. (2.998 x 10^8 m/s / 9.8 m/s2) = 354 days, plus give "artificial gravity" for growing plants. If it increased speed half the trip, and decreased speed 2nd half. (1g for both incr and decr) how much would the time dilation be for passengers? I know how to calculate time dilation for constant speed, but not constant acceleration. Another issue is the max speed. More force is needed to accelerate a mass at greater speeds due to mass increase F=m*a. However, "work" is W=f*d (and distance decreases with increased speed), so shouldn't the increase in mass be offset with the decrease in distance? Hence the same "work/energy". More "Power" if faster.
2007-04-28 22:46:09 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
My guess would be 2 yrs each way for space passengers, and 21 yrs for earth watchers in each direction, but the delay in light would make it seem 40 years just to arrive.
2007-04-28 22:50:09 · update #1
In General Relatvity, if 1g gravity field is the same as 1g acceleration, then wouldn't the time slow-down be the same on Earth (gravity) as ship (accel), regardless of the ship speed, since speed is relative. Separate question.
2007-04-28 23:14:03 · update #2
The 800,000 assumed present techology. Since nothing would work after that period of time, if we actually did this, it would just be a plaque or sometime saying "howdy".
2007-04-29 05:41:03 · answer #1 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I originally thought 3yrs or so so I guess with a bit better accuracy in the math that would sound about right and not far from the truth
2007-04-28 22:58:43 · answer #2 · answered by Big R 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋