Relativity is Relatively Misunderstood

[Martin Hash]

The second scenario I often see is that as a space ship gets further away from Earth, time continues to slow. Obviously, there's some point where time stops entirely, the passage of time becomes zero. BUT, what about the planet at exactly that point? Did time stop for the aliens living there?

[C-Mag]

Marty..



Quit posting here and go buy a Land Rover

[heydaralon]

The second scenario I often see is that as a space ship gets further away from Earth, time continues to slow. Obviously, there's some point where time stops entirely, the passage of time becomes zero. BUT, what about the planet at exactly that point? Did time stop for the aliens living there?

From my understanding, if the spaceship gets to 0 degrees Kelvin time would stop as the particles would no longer move. In that scenario, it would be good to wear a jacket.

[SuburbanFarmer]

OP is discussing light cones, not time dilation. Your hypothesis is not relevant to the theory that you’re discussing.

Regarding time dilation, we have actual, expermimental evidence of it. Clocks that are taken to the ISS for a time fall out of sync with identical clocks on the ground.

[heydaralon]

OP is discussing light cones, not time dilation. Your hypothesis is not relevant to the theory that you’re discussing.

Regarding time dilation, we have actual, expermimental evidence of it. Clocks that are taken to the ISS for a time fall out of sync with identical clocks on the ground.

I would imagine that a lot of it has to do with timezones. It is quite possible that the astronauts had the clocks running on Cape Canaveral Eastern Standard Time and forgot to reset them when they got into space. Its a simple mistake, and we all make them. How about cutting them a bit of slack for a change?

[Martin Hash]

OP is discussing light cones, not time dilation. Your hypothesis is not relevant to the theory that you’re discussing.

Regarding time dilation, we have actual, expermimental evidence of it. Clocks that are taken to the ISS for a time fall out of sync with identical clocks on the ground.

Do you find it ironic that you personally are skeptical of just about everything but when it comes to time travel, you're shaking the pom-poms?

p.s. I'm not saying I can't be convinced, I can be convinced there is a god too, I'm just willing to take the heat on this one.

[Martin Hash]

For example, here is a possible explanation of the discrepancy in the math that Is interpreted as time travel. Einstein predicted and proved that gravity bends light. A curve has acceleration-like properties. If a time calculation was made assuming light was traveling in a straight line but it was really bending, the differences in the lengths of the paths would appear to be time travel.

I just speculated this in a couple minutes, which means 1000s of other people have too, and a rebuttal has been made, or the time travel myth wouldn't be so persistent. My point is that when something isn't logical, add it to the list of things that will probably be reinterpreted.

[SuburbanFarmer]

OP is discussing light cones, not time dilation. Your hypothesis is not relevant to the theory that you’re discussing.

Regarding time dilation, we have actual, expermimental evidence of it. Clocks that are taken to the ISS for a time fall out of sync with identical clocks on the ground.

Do you find it ironic that you personally are skeptical of just about everything but when it comes to time travel, you're shaking the pom-poms?

p.s. I'm not saying I can't be convinced, I can be convinced there is a god too, I'm just willing to take the heat on this one.

Time dilation is a long, long, LONG way from 'time travel'. It can be shown empirically that time itself is slowed for anything traveling faster than Observer. Therefore, I have to accept that it's real.
Your scenario assumed a "speed of light ship", which is impossible, given our current understanding. Therefore, anything else that you extrapolate from it is irrelevant.

However, I agree that the cause of time dilation is probably not worked out yet. I'm not opposed to a return to Ether Theory - I've hypothesized the same myself. Dark matter and dark energy are simply placeholders for "I dunno".

It's possible that we are eventually forced to redefine the Theory of Gravity, which would completely upend most of physics. It's fascinating to watch the process unfold in real-time, but I doubt that either of us will live long enough to see the next paradigm shift.

[Martin Hash]

Assume light is bent: if a spaceship goes out and comes back in a straight line, it would appear that time went slower for it because the light would be traveling a longer path.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Assume light is bent: if a spaceship goes out and comes back in a straight line, it would appear that time went slower for it because the light would be traveling a longer path.

If I understand, you're talking about something like this:

Spaceship leaves earth at light speed, passes a black hole, returns to earth at light speed.

Observer on Earth sees the ship leave, slightly turn toward the black hole, then return on the same path. The ship appears stretched along a portion of its path the entire time, as you see in star wars.

Where time dilation comes in, from the pilot's perspective, he never experienced the trip. His entire journey would take place in zero time, from his perspective. That's a good reason not to travel at the speed of light.