Time Dilation.

ParsaAkbari · Last edited by ParsaAkbari on Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:48 am; edited 1 time in total

Reccently i decided to go ahead of the school cirriculam (like i was about 1 yr back) and learn about quantum physics and einstiens theory of relativity (general and special)

Quantum theory was simple enough, since it was un-understanable with the level of knoledge the human race has now i grasped that pretty easily.

But when i got to time dilation i got a bit stuck.

Einstein stated that time goes slower for people who travel faster, in comparison to the people traveling slower right?

Also as einstein calculated
the speed of time is constant.
the distance traveled by time is dependable on the speed (which is constant)
so time must be a variable?

Now i understand that time is a variable... but
if
TIME = DISTANCE(depenable on the speed of light) * SPEED(speed of light)

Then light must be a representation of speed?

This is perfectly logical in a photon clock.

But when we say that time will go slower in refrence to aging and wrist watches it longer makes sense to me?

In other words i fail to see the link between TIME and THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
Or the distance that the light is travleing.

In my perception time is my wrist watch which ticks evrey time the cogs move.

Can anybody help me

Afaceinthematrix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHjpBjgIMVk

That's a basic video that goes over all of the basics. It also gives you a pretty good visual of how time dilation works.

ParsaAkbari

I have seen the video actually but it still doesnt help me understand lol...

I cant see the revelence between how far it takes light to get from A to B and time.

Afaceinthematrix

Someone once provided a link to a pretty good website on time dilation. I just went and searched for that old post and found the link, but the link doesn't work anymore. Maybe someone else has another page on it that they'd provide...

Time dilation (in an extremely simplified manner, because very few people understand it with a great understanding) plays slightly off of basic physics. In that video that I posted, the time perceived for the laser to reach the bottom spaceship will appear different for the two observers because one will perceive it as having an initial velocity of 0 among the x axis while the observer standing out on the side will perceive it as having an initial horizontal velocity near the speed of light...

jwellsy

Perception of time is an interesting thing. A turtle and a hummingbird have very different perceptions of time.

ParsaAkbari

After thinking about it all night this is my conclusion.

If i had two mirrors 300,000km apart.
And lets assume einstein is right when he says that light travels the same for evreybody (300,000km/s)

(In the viewpoint of a bystander)
Then our variables are:

D = 300,000km
S = 300,000km/s (constant)
T = 1 s

Now suppose the viechle starts traveling, and the distance (for light) to get from one mirror to another is 450,000km.

So now

D = 450,000km
S = 300,000km/s (constant, speed of light)
T = 1.5 s

I dont see what the big deal is here? All that has happened is that it takes light a longer time to travel a longer distance.

However if we switch to the perception of the person in the viechle:

D = 300,000km
S = 300,000km/s (constant, speed of light)
T = 1.5 s

For the person traveling with the viechle the light does not have to cover a larger distance, right?
So what we have here is light taking longer to cover the same distance, and the only the TIME is changing.

The more I think about it the stranger it becomes because it seems absurd to say that for the person in the viechle light travels Xkm to get from A - B and for the person standing outside light takes Ykm to get from the same two points (A - B)

ParsaAkbari

Bikerman

It has nothing to do with perception - time dilation is a 'real' effect.
Try
http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/srelwhat.html

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