Theory of Relativity bones to pick

salami1212 · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:57

Firstly, If time and space are relative, im just wondering if the size of matter and temperature are?

Also, if someone travelled at 99% the speed of light for 1 year away from earth, they would come back to earth and 1300 years would have passed.. How is that possible!? Time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light. how does that work though?

Cosimo · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:00

Here we go, I should have asked by physics teacher but I forgot because I wasn't concentrating.

XPE · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:03

Maybe that’s why they call it a theory and not a fact.

Tikkabhuna · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:06

Look up the light clock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_clock

I can't remember the details now but thats what the theory uses as "evidence".

daz · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:10

The Special Theory of Relativity only has some very simple assumptions. The main one being that the speed of light is constant for all observers in intertial frames of reference (the same for everyone). From here everyone defines their own personal time/clock, and everyone has their own measure of distances etc.

This leads to effects such as time dilation, length contraction and the like.

salami1212 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:18

daz said:
The Special Theory of Relativity only has some very simple assumptions. The main one being that the speed of light is constant for all observers in intertial frames of reference (the same for everyone). From here everyone defines their own personal time/clock, and everyone has their own measure of distances etc.

This leads to effects such as time dilation, length contraction and the like.

Ok then.. How about if I was on the phone to you, and i travelled off at 99% the speed of light for 1 year, would you die of old age after say 5 minutes?

Danny091 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:19

Basicly if you where on a bus sitting at the back traveling 99.99% the speed of light time slows down for the bus a great ammount. The reason they think is behind this is so that it wouldnt be possable to run up the bus and break the speed of light. Therefor the faster you go the more time slows down. But remember it doesnt slow down for everyone else just you.

Hxc · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:21

What if it was on a tredmill?

Combat squirrel · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:21

salami1212 said:
Ok then.. How about if I was on the phone to you, and i travelled off at 99% the speed of light for 1 year, would you die of old age after say 5 minutes?

Not possible, the signal would also have to travel at the speed of light, do you mean call originating both local to each other or the other person already being a fair way away ?

Either way as soon as the traveller got further away, the person at home would say a word and it would take longer and longer to reach the traveller, thus the signal would break up.

Now if they were using a quantum communications device using paired atoms then it maybe a different story.

Danny091 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:24

Time is also relative to mass, this is why satalites in space have to have there clocks altered everyday by microseconds so they carry on working. Being further away from earth means there clock's run faster if they wernt altered back to be in synch with us they would cece to function.

salami1212 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:24

Combat squirrel said:
Not possible, the signal would also have to travel at the speed of light, do you mean call originating both local to each other or the other person already being a fair way away ?

Either way as soon as the traveller got further away, the person at home would say a word and it would take longer and longer to reach the traveller, thus the signal would break up.

Surely not, as radio waves travel at the speed of light, so if the person is travelling just under, the signal will reach them in time. (obviously this would have to be top notch equipment)..

singist · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:25

Hxc said:
What if it was on a tredmill?

Beaten like a ginger stepchild!

Danny091 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:25

salami1212 said:
Surely not, as radio waves travel at the speed of light, so if the person is travelling just under, the signal will reach them in time. (obviously this would have to be top notch equipment)..

You wouldnt beable to talk to them because of time slowing down for you.

But the speedwise it would reach you but it would take a lot longer and sending a signal back would be complicated.

daz · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:27

salami1212 said:
Ok then.. How about if I was on the phone to you, and i travelled off at 99% the speed of light for 1 year, would you die of old age after say 5 minutes?

For you, time will be passing normally. But compared to here on Earth, time will be passing much more quickly in comparison. So you might be gone for a year of 'your' time - but here on Earth a lot longer will have passed.

salami1212 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:29

Danny091 said:
You wouldnt beable to talk to them because of time slowing down for you.

But the speedwise it would reach you but it would take a lot longer and sending a signal back would be complicated.

i can kinda (by kinda i mean i dont) get how the time can slow down, but i dont get why the person on earth would die first.

salami1212 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:30

daz said:
For you, time will be passing normally. But compared to here on Earth, time will be passing much more quickly in comparison. So you might be gone for a year of 'your' time - but here on Earth a lot longer will have passed.

how does that work. the amount their bodies will have aged will be exactly the same surely.

v0n · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:31

Danny091 said:
Time is also relative to mass, this is why satalites in space have to have there clocks altered everyday by microseconds so they carry on working. Being further away from earth means there clock's run faster if they wernt altered back to be in synch with us they would cece to function.

Can I request quotation for this?

Danny091 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:33

salami1212 said:
how does that work. the amount their bodies will have aged will be exactly the same surely.

To you nothing would be wrong you would be moving the exact same ammount as you ever did. except outside time would be flying by years would be passing and you wouldnt notice.
Its due to the speed you are going so that your movement cannot break the speed of light.

Time would be slowing down for you and for everyone else it would be going normaly.
If someone looked at you (hypertheticly) you would appear to be frozen in time to them, and if you look looked at them they would look like they should have that dody chase music playing as they went a million miles an hour doing everything.

Castiel · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:35

So much nonsense already....

Read this:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/slowing-time-to-a-standstill-with-relativity.html

and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation

Danny091 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:38

v0n said:
Can I request quotation for this?

If you google it you will find loads about it

The combination of these two relativitic effects means that the clocks on-board each satellite should tick faster than identical clocks on the ground by about 38 microseconds per day! This sounds small, but the high-precision required of the GPS system requires nanosecond accuracy, and 38 microseconds is 38,000 nanoseconds. If these effects were not properly taken into account, a navigational fix based on the GPS constellation would be false after only 2 minutes, and errors in global positions would continue to accumulate at a rate of about 10 kilometers each day!

So yeh satilites especialy GPS are very sensitive to general relativity. 10 KM is lot from where your ment to be