Relativity question:

Hypothetically if a person travels at just under the speed of light in a
space ship to a star 10 light years away
does it seem to take the full 10 years to get there for the person doing the
traveling?

Does time seem to pass more quickly while traveling at close to C?

If so what would a 10 light year journey seem like in duration? a few weeks?
Or a few seconds?

Thanks in advance.

Dear Mike:

"Mike" wrote in message
news:qKdLe.435$1b5.21@trnddc05...
Hypothetically if a person travels at just under the speed
of light in a space ship to a star 10 light years away does
it seem to take the full 10 years to get there for the person
doing the traveling?

No, it seems to take less. Of course it depends if they brought
their significant other with them (and how much beer, etc.).

Does time seem to pass more quickly while traveling at
close to C?

No. Time passes normally... eggs cook in the usual amount of
time, babies are born after "nine months" gestation. It is just
that the traveller doesn't put a second's worth of duration
between each second on Earth. His/her "trip through time" is
shorter, due to the "speed of the trip through space".

If so what would a 10 light year journey seem like in
duration? a few weeks? Or a few seconds?

It depends on the speed. At 0.866 c (as determined by Earth), it
takes 5 years of ship-board time.

Now the obligatory reference to the FAQ:
URL:http://hermes.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dkoks/Faq/

David A. Smith

"N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)" N: dlzc1 D:cox wrote in
message news:h3eLe.26127$E95.4727@fed1read01...
Dear Mike:

"Mike" wrote in message
news:qKdLe.435$1b5.21@trnddc05...
Hypothetically if a person travels at just under the speed
of light in a space ship to a star 10 light years away does
it seem to take the full 10 years to get there for the person
doing the traveling?

No, it seems to take less. Of course it depends if they brought
their significant other with them (and how much beer, etc.).

Does time seem to pass more quickly while traveling at
close to C?

No. Time passes normally... eggs cook in the usual amount of
time, babies are born after "nine months" gestation. It is just
that the traveller doesn't put a second's worth of duration
between each second on Earth. His/her "trip through time" is
shorter, due to the "speed of the trip through space".

If so what would a 10 light year journey seem like in
duration? a few weeks? Or a few seconds?

It depends on the speed. At 0.866 c (as determined by Earth), it
takes 5 years of ship-board time.

Now the obligatory reference to the FAQ:
URL:http://hermes.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dkoks/Faq/

David A. Smith


Thanks for that,

any particular reason .866 of c was used?

What would the answer be for say .980 of c

TIA

Dear Mike:

"Mike" wrote in message
news:JveLe.1808$Rp5.1393@trnddc03...

"N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)" N: dlzc1 D:cox
wrote in
message news:h3eLe.26127$E95.4727@fed1read01...
....
Now the obligatory reference to the FAQ:
URL:http://hermes.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dkoks/Faq/

Thanks for that,

any particular reason .866 of c was used?

The gamma for this speed is 2.0.

What would the answer be for say .980 of c

Gamma = 1 / sqrt( 1 - (v/c)^2)
Gamma_98% = 1/sqrt(1-(0.98)^2) = 5

Earth would attribute:
10 ly / 0.98c = 10.2 years
10 ly travelled

The traveller would measu
10.2 / 5 = 2.04 years
10 / 5 = 2 ly travelled

This ignores the issues of getting up to speed in a very short
period of time, not killing the passengers with the radiation
produced by impinging interstellar hydrogen at 0.98c on the nose
of the ship, and such "niggling details".

David A. Smith