NASA Announces Results of Epic Space-Time Experiment

Originally posted by crumpet97
reply to post by neo96

 

Backwards, neo96: Time slows near large objects!

Actually, this statement is incorrect!


For starters, relative size has nothing to do with overall mass. For example, a black hole's singularity would contain more "mass" than the moon but the moon would, technically, be larger.

The more compacted matter becomes, the more mass the object contains, the more gravity it creates.

Second, time doesn't necessarily "slow" near a massive object. The percieved time one experiences is always relative to another variable or point of reference. The only thing that always remains constant is the speed of light (c).

It is completely feasible to be "near" a massive object but time wouldn't necessarily be faster for you than it would for, perhaps, someone standing on the earth as long as the variables are correct to make it happen. It's all mathematics..

If you are traveling around a massive object at near the speed of light, you are still experiencing time faster than someone on a stationary spaceship or on earth, for example.

Time Dilation:



Of coarse, with physics, there's always a kicker.

Someone traveling at 30,000 MPH in a rocket isn't necessarily traveling faster than you sitting in a lazy chair drinking beer. How is this possible?

Because speed is always relative between two points.
People usually consider those reference points as..

A - the point of departure.
B - the point of arrival.

However, speed can get a little complex when you think about it.

Someone sitting in an easy chair drinking beer is sitting on planet Earth. Earth is always rotating, Earth is always orbiting the sun, the sun is always traveling around the galaxy, the galaxy is always traveling at neckbreaking speed through the cosmos, etc. - It all adds up!

With relation to our universe, someone sitting in that easy chair could feasibly be traveling faster than someone traveling in a rocket.

When you think about it, any two reference points you could ever use for determining relative speed would also always be moving independently of one another..

It isn't necessarily as straightforward as someone going from point A to point B because the universe (the environment of the traveler) usually contains variables that get overlooked.

-ChriS