fivefiftyfive

Feb 23

Time dilation; the twin paradox.


There are two twin brothers. On their thirtieth birthday, one of the brothers goes on a space journey in a super fast rocket that travels at 99% of the speed of light. The space traveler stays on his journey for precisely one year, whereupon he returns to Earth on his 31st birthday. On Earth, however, seven years have elapsed, so his twin brother is 37 years old at the time of his arrival. This is due to the fact that time is stretched by factor 7 at approx. 99% of the speed of light, which means that in the space traveler’s reference frame, one year is equivalent to seven years on earth. Yet, time appears to have passed normally to both brothers, i.e. both still need five minutes to shave each morning in their respective reference frame.

— Click here for the whole entry. I love stuff that makes my head spin <3

Notes

  1. yondabean reblogged this from dreadgeek
  2. dreadgeek reblogged this from exogenerian
  3. exogenerian posted this

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