If a 10 yo boy travels to a star 3 ly away and back, all in 8 years, could he legally buy cigarettes?

Answer 1

That depends on whether you mean 8 years proper time or 8 years of earth time. Lets examine both interpretations:

8 years proper time--he comes back. His physical age is 18. But more than 8 years have passed at home, so his ID with his birthday indicates that he's older. Depending on how the numbers work out, he might not only be able to buy cigarettes. He might be able to buy beer! (21 in US) He can probably get beer in Canada (19 I think).

8 years earth time--he comes back. His physical age is less than 18. The clerk looks at him all funny because he doesn't look 18. But his ID says he's 18, so he can smoke.

The question was can he LEGALLY buy cigarettes. To my knowledge, no legislature anywhere has passed any laws regarding time dilation, so you'd have to go by earth time and his ID card.

Answer 2

Yes,but only where the legal age for buying cigarettes is eighteen.

His date of birth would remain the same -- eighteen years prior to his return to earth. Any ID that gives his age based on his official birth records would show this. He, however, would not have experienced the passage of eighteen years of time. His friends and family who remained on earth would appear older; he'd look not as old.

That's "time dilation", a phenomenon described by Uncle Al Einstein in his Special Theory of Relativity. The passage of time slows down for something that travels very fast (the boy) relative to something else that stays put (the folks back home). In an eight year round-trip, the boy would travel very VERY fast to get to a star three light years away (about nine million million million million kilometers).

But here's another question: If he continues smoking, will he truly die young?

Answer 3

Not enough information provided. When you say all in 8 years, is this 8 years relative to the boy, or relative to the earth since he left? If it's to the earth, then yes he can, if it's to himself, then no, he is not yet 18.

Answer 4

No, because he would not age 8 years. In fact, the faster you go, the more time slows down for the traveler, so when he returned, he'd be only seconds older.

Answer 5

if the frame of refrence is earth, then no he wouldnt be 18 yet
if the frame of refrence is the boy, then yes he would be 18

Answer 6

no, velocity not fast enough.