Can we distort time?

[Bill Walker]

ask chabal

(he watched Interstellar)

 

[foetus]

There's a good vsauce video on youtube (check out the vsauce channel...it has some awesome/interesting videos) that explains why the first 25 years of our life seem to go forever and the rest of it flies by. Time is the same (obviously) but we experience so many 'firsts' in our first 25 years of life. First kiss, first time we see boobs, first time we get a friend etc etc. Therefore we have a lot more vivid memories from our childhood and it makes it seem like it lasted forever. When we're adults, we get into a routine and experience less and less 'firsts' so the years seem to fly by.

Moral of the story, if you want the years to feel like they aren't going so fast, go out and do something exciting on a regular basis.

 

[TCIB]

You can tell em about the fun facts regarding gps and time if you like flux hehe.

I would but every time I tell somebody "without the theory of relativity we wouldn't have GPS" they all come back with "that's good because mine's shit and it tells me to turn down dead ends, can't beat a good ol'map".

Ahh you spoke to my dad then i see, the mechanics of it really is quiet brilliant isn't it. We take this for granted and it is so complex.

 

[Nascent Blues]

Not only can we distort time, you do it literally every second of every day without realising it.

Whenever you travel, no matter how slowly, your body is actually subject to the laws of special relativity. When an object moves it experiences 'time dilation'. That is, the faster something travels, the more time seems to slow down in its own reference frame. This is a natural consequence of having a constant speed of light. You wouldn't notice the difference as your biological functions work at the same pace, but when you stop moving the world around you has 'experienced' more time passing than you have.

Therefore technically, if you walk to the shops, and your wife has stayed at home on the sofa, by the time you get back your wife has actually aged ever so slightly more than you have. It's obviously not even noticeable on every day scales, and only really comes into effect when you travel significantly fast.

I know this isn't what you were getting at, but hey I'm bored.

Edit: TCIB beat me to it. Like lightning that fella.

Have no idea about this, but wouldn't the earth's speed (traveling through space) play a part? For instance, would the speed of the earth's trajectory counterbalance or supersede an individual's speed (if that's the right phrase) on earth, if the earth is actually moving faster than both individuals? Love this stuff but I'm thick as fuck when any actual 'understanding' is involved. My brain isn't designed for it!

 

[TCIB]

Not really mate, this is where the relativity kicks in.
If both humans are on the earth they are neutral to each other for all intents and purposes.
As flux said just walking away from someone affects it but on a level imperceptible to us.
Sorry if that is not what you mean, i have had a few and we are getting towards the outer edge of physics here. Not unknown but still out there.

If you had orbit around our super massive black hole for 45min on earth roughly 100 years will have passed.
This is what they are trying to show in interstellar. However we could not exist here. The noise for a start would disassociate every single atom in our body from the rest, it would smash you. Debris from...ahh man you get the idea, basically it's fucked up !

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

Not only can we distort time, you do it literally every second of every day without realising it.

Whenever you travel, no matter how slowly, your body is actually subject to the laws of special relativity. When an object moves it experiences 'time dilation'. That is, the faster something travels, the more time seems to slow down in its own reference frame. This is a natural consequence of having a constant speed of light. You wouldn't notice the difference as your biological functions work at the same pace, but when you stop moving the world around you has 'experienced' more time passing than you have.

Therefore technically, if you walk to the shops, and your wife has stayed at home on the sofa, by the time you get back your wife has actually aged ever so slightly more than you have. It's obviously not even noticeable on every day scales, and only really comes into effect when you travel significantly fast.

I know this isn't what you were getting at, but hey I'm bored.

Edit: TCIB beat me to it. Like lightning that fella.

Have no idea about this, but wouldn't the earth's speed (traveling through space) play a part? For instance, would the speed of the earth's trajectory counterbalance or supersede an individual's speed (if that's the right phrase) on earth, if the earth is actually moving faster than both individuals? Love this stuff but I'm thick as fuck when any actual 'understanding' is involved. My brain isn't designed for it!

TCIB has covered it but I'll attempt to clarify things a little. Relativity is all about looking at things in 'relative' frames of reference. That's where the name comes from. The theory is useful when you're using it to compare the differences between two perspectives.

Therefore in the example I give above of one person staying on the sofa and the other going to the shops the rotation and orbit of the Earth isn't significant because it is something that's acting equally on both the people in the scenario. It's the differences between the two 'observers' that we're interested in.

So to answer your question, it depends. It wouldn't matter in the example I've given but if we're using it to compare perspectives for things like spacecraft and we're sending out instructions from base here on Earth then absolutely the rotation and orbit of the Earth is extremely relevant. This comes back to TCIBs point that he touched on. Because of the movement of the Earth we need to account for time dilation when sending pinpoint signals for GPS. It makes the difference of fractions of a second but it has to be that precise or it wouldn't work.

Hopefully that makes sense?

 

[urmston]

Not only can we distort time, you do it literally every second of every day without realising it.

Whenever you travel, no matter how slowly, your body is actually subject to the laws of special relativity. When an object moves it experiences 'time dilation'. That is, the faster something travels, the more time seems to slow down in its own reference frame. This is a natural consequence of having a constant speed of light. You wouldn't notice the difference as your biological functions work at the same pace, but when you stop moving the world around you has 'experienced' more time passing than you have.

Therefore technically, if you walk to the shops, and your wife has stayed at home on the sofa, by the time you get back your wife has actually aged ever so slightly more than you have. It's obviously not even noticeable on every day scales, and only really comes into effect when you travel significantly fast.

I know this isn't what you were getting at, but hey I'm bored.

Edit: TCIB beat me to it. Like lightning that fella.

Have no idea about this, but wouldn't the earth's speed (traveling through space) play a part? For instance, would the speed of the earth's trajectory counterbalance or supersede an individual's speed (if that's the right phrase) on earth, if the earth is actually moving faster than both individuals? Love this stuff but I'm thick as fuck when any actual 'understanding' is involved. My brain isn't designed for it!

TCIB has covered it but I'll attempt to clarify things a little. Relativity is all about looking at things in 'relative' frames of reference. That's where the name comes from. The theory is useful when you're using it to compare the differences between two perspectives.

Therefore in the example I give above of one person staying on the sofa and the other going to the shops the rotation and orbit of the Earth isn't significant because it is something that's acting equally on both the people in the scenario. It's the differences between the two 'observers' that we're interested in.

So to answer your question, it depends. It wouldn't matter in the example I've given but if we're using it to compare perspectives for things like spacecraft and we're sending out instructions from base here on Earth then absolutely the rotation and orbit of the Earth is extremely relevant. This comes back to TCIBs point that he touched on. Because of the movement of the Earth we need to account for time dilation when sending pinpoint signals for GPS. It makes the difference of fractions of a second but it has to be that precise or it wouldn't work.

Hopefully that makes sense?

Yes it does.

It makes perfect sense.

You've captured the very essence of Einstein's thoughts into a few well considered sentences.

 

[lewisMCFC]

If you spend half an hour watching paint dry it seems like ages.

Does it?

Why do it then?

This happens because most people find this boring, therefore if you watch paint dry for half an hour you will constantly be thinking about the time/how long you have been there ect. Whereas if you do something you are interested in or you are busy and your mind is elsewhere for half an hour, you are not thinking about the time, therefore it 'seems' to go quicker.

 

[urmston]

If you spend half an hour watching paint dry it seems like ages.

Does it?

Why do it then?

This happens because most people find this boring, therefore if you watch paint dry for half an hour you will constantly be thinking about the time/how long you have been there ect. Whereas if you do something you are interested in or you are busy and your mind is elsewhere for half an hour, you are not thinking about the time, therefore it 'seems' to go quicker.

Yes. I see now. Thanks.

 

[DelToro]

ask chabal

(he watched Interstellar)

Yes you can.

Whilst I sat in the cinema watching Interstellar 8 earth years passed.