I've read that when traveling close to the speed of light time slows down. Is this true and if so why?
2007-07-02 05:03:14 · 6 answers · asked by Shinra 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It's a consequence of special relativity. When Einstein created it, he made one very important assumption - namely that light has constant velocity for all observers in a vacuum.
Once you take that on board and you consider what happens when you get very fast, some very strange things happen. The first is that, from the point of view of an observer, you appear to contract in the direction of travel. This is a direct consequence of the speed of light being a constant. You also undergo an increase in mass.
The effect that you are talking about, time distortion also occurs, but you have to be careful here. You see, time only appears to slow down for a third party observer, watching you travelling very fast. For you on your spaceship, your watch would look perfectly normal. Note that you age more slowly relative to the third party observer, but not to anyone else on your spaceship with you.
This is why Einsteins theories are called theories of relativity. The effects you witness or that occur depend upon your frame of reference - so the effects are relative to some reference point.
Actually proving using Einsteins work that time slows down is a little complex without actually getting into the maths of it. Try looking up 'time dilation' on the internet and you should find a proof of it.
Note that as other people have pointed out, this has been proven using actual atomic clocks on high speed fighter jets.
2007-07-02 05:54:57 · answer #1 · answered by Richie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is 100% true. You age slower when you're traveling close to the speed of light. There have been experiments done where they have synchronized two atomic clocks, and put one on a space shuttle, which orbits the earth at only around 17,000 miles per hour. When they came back down, the two clocks were off exactly the amount that Einstein predicted. Unfortunately I can't cite my exact resource, but the answer to your question is true.
2007-07-02 12:24:21 · answer #2 · answered by JEWfan2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Travelling really fast speeds can leave you bald! It either makes you feel younger or really, really old and you aint got a hair on your head to prove it.
Increasing to light-speeds is like moving through a vortex - there is no time involved except the time it takes to flick the switch and back again. Sometimes this takes longer than the route itself. Travelling at lightspeed makes you believe you are and then not so fast after all. Just as fast as our thoughts are so can travel be. We can position ourselves to whereever we want to be - it only takes a moments notice. Chances are that by the time you read this message you have been to the ends of the known universe and back and you didn't even realise it.
2007-07-02 12:14:18 · answer #3 · answered by upyerjumper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is actually very true. Satellites in the outer space have to reset their clocks every day because time is slowed down by a few seconds. The farther you are away from the earth and the faster you can time will tend to slow down a very little bit.
2007-07-02 13:46:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi Several things happen. Times slows, mass increases (as in resistance to further acceleration), and dimensions shorten in the direction of travel. None of these effects are detected by a person actually moving.
2007-07-02 13:13:25 · answer #5 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
slows down for the observer, but it is all relative.
2007-07-02 12:08:09 · answer #6 · answered by Grant d 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋