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What would happen to time perception is we were exactly still?
Sorry if I'm asking in the wrong place.
I was having a conversation with my son (13) last night about time being perceived as slowing as the speed you travelled increased. He then asked if we were totally still (as in not on the Earth travelling around the sun travelling around the Milky Way travelling through the universe) what would happen in regards to our perception of time. If we were able to travel at such a speed (hypothetically, obviously, so no arguments that we can't please, even though I appreciate that it's true) that allowed us to perceive that we've travelled for 1 year in a round trip, but when we returned 2 million years had passed, if we were totally still would time begin and end for us simultaneously or would it become infinite and would we experience a sort of immortality? Any answers would be greatly appreciated. |
#2
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What would happen to time perception is we were exactly still?
In article ,
Muerte wrote: Sorry if I'm asking in the wrong place. I was having a conversation with my son (13) last night about time being perceived as slowing as the speed you travelled increased. He then asked if we were totally still (as in not on the Earth travelling around the sun travelling around the Milky Way travelling through the universe) what would happen in regards to our perception of time. If we were able to travel at such a speed (hypothetically, obviously, so no arguments that we can't please, even though I appreciate that it's true) that allowed us to perceive that we've travelled for 1 year in a round trip, but when we returned 2 million years had passed, if we were totally still would time begin and end for us simultaneously or would it become infinite and would we experience a sort of immortality? Any answers would be greatly appreciated. If you are talking about relativistic time dilation, no matter what speed others think you are traveling, you won't (can't) notice anything odd at all about your own situation. You will notice odd things about the folks you are going past, though. "Space and Time in Special Relativity" by N. David Mermin, is a very accessible entry into the subject. A bright 13-year-old shouldn't have too much trouble with most of it. Isaac |
#3
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What would happen to time perception is we were exactly still?
On 03/06/2016 9:52 AM, Muerte wrote:
Sorry if I'm asking in the wrong place. I was having a conversation with my son (13) last night about time being perceived as slowing as the speed you travelled increased. He then asked if we were totally still (as in not on the Earth travelling around the sun travelling around the Milky Way travelling through the universe) what would happen in regards to our perception of time. Well, you're asking what would happen to time if there were an absolute frame of reference. Absolute frames of reference don't exist. Everything is moving relative to everything else. Even the molecules in your body are moving relative to each other, even if you are attempting to be perfectly still. If you were travelling at close to the speed of light, you would notice time is traversing at perfectly normal rates for you. But it's traversing at very slow rate for something that's not at your frame of reference. Every frame of reference is perfectly still, but every other frame of reference is moving from ours. If we were able to travel at such a speed (hypothetically, obviously, so no arguments that we can't please, even though I appreciate that it's true) that allowed us to perceive that we've travelled for 1 year in a round trip, but when we returned 2 million years had passed, if we were totally still would time begin and end for us simultaneously or would it become infinite and would we experience a sort of immortality? Something moving slower than us would perceive time as moving faster than ours. Something moving faster than us would perceive time as moving slower than ours. So being perfectly still would actually reduce our life expectancy. Going really fast will increase our life expectancy. Yousuf Khan |
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What would happen to time perception is we were exactly still?
Op vrijdag 3 juni 2016 15:52:03 UTC+2 schreef Muerte:
I was having a conversation with my son (13) last night about time being perceived as slowing as the speed you travelled increased. He then asked if we were totally still (as in not on the Earth travelling around the sun travelling around the Milky Way travelling through the universe) what would happen in regards to our perception of time. When you have a conversation like this with your son (13) you are an extremely lucky person. What you should ask your son is: "what is your perception of time at of this moment." Maybe he answers I do not know or I cannot describe it. That is okay. The issue is when he travels through the universe to Mars that perception (feeling) will be exactly the same. If we were able to travel at such a speed (hypothetically, obviously, so no arguments that we can't please, even though I appreciate that it's true) that allowed us to perceive that we've travelled for 1 year in a round trip, but when we returned 2 million years had passed, if we were totally still would time begin and end for us simultaneously or would it become infinite and would we experience a sort of immortality? This is a much more tricky question. The problem is this looks like a thought experiment and thought experiments are always tricky. What we should discuss is experiments which are physical possible. For example when you want to fly through space g forces are involved. The next link gives an indication what is physical possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Human_tolerance The same issue exists in general in relation to speed. When you move a clock which functioning involves lightsignals, then, when you move such a clock with speed c, it stops ticking. However this does not say anything about the concept of time. Even when the clock stops ticking, time will be exactly the same. A whole different issue how fast can we, humans, can travel. This also is a physical process and in a sense has nothing to do with the behaviour of clocks. The point is that a moving clock in a spaceship ticks slower than a clock at "rest" (whatever it means). However that does not mean that a person in the spaceship ages less than a person staying at rest. Remember that aging is a physical process which can be drastically influenced when you move at a high speed through space. This can influence your health even when you are weightless. I do not know the answer. The point is that independent of your speed when you come back the universe will have evolved/aged (time wise) in the same way as if you did not travel and that is an indication what time indicates. Anyway time does not start or stop, like a clock. It is an integral part of our existance, of the universe. Hopes this helps. Nicolaas Vroom. |
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