Relativistic Time Dilation Questions

[Delta4Embassy]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

Time slows.

 

[Statistikhengst]

According the the theory, at light speed, time practically stops.

At FTL, times should start to go backwards.

Now, what the dilation does to the structural integrity of any vessel is a mystery to all of us, since we don't have any field experience with it yet.

 

[Vikrant]

There are two types of time dilation. One is called gravitational time dilation and another one is called relative velocity time dilation. So there are basically two factors that affect time. One is gravity and another one is velocity. If a matter is brought under the influence of gravity, the time starts to dilate as the gravity increases. Also when the velocity of a matter increases, time starts to dilate. So in a region of space where gravity is almost negligible, time speeds up if the matter is almost at rest. If you have a situation where a matter is moving at high velocity but the gravity is almost negligible then they will try to negate each other in terms of affecting time.

Structures go through aging process depending on their composition. Aging is a function of elapsed time. Let us say our spaceship is made of material X which requires a given set of maintenance every 10 period when it is on Earth. For our example one period would be the time taken by light to make a round trip between two mirrors which are parallel to each other. The distance between the mirrors is L. So our period is 2L divided by the speed of light. Now this spaceship goes into the space and begins a journey at a high velocity where it experiences time dilation to a point that on Earth 50 periods have elapsed but the spaceship has only gone through 20 periods. This means that the spaceship will only require the maintenance twice. Whereas it would have required 5 maintenance jobs if it had stayed on the earth.

As we can see, time is tied to the matter. If matter is traveling fast time slows down. If the gravitational field increases on the matter the time slow down as well. Gravity is simply the distortion in the time-space created by matter.

So just for fun, if you were on a spaceship that was drifting very slowly compared to another observer ship somewhere in our galaxy where gravity is really small, you will age real fast compared to the people on the observer ship.

 

[Toronado3800]

This one always gets the best of me.

Let's say I am traveling near the speed of light in my spaceship. Do the electrons take longer to circle in their shells relative to one moving at a "normal" speed thanks to the oval the must run? Is that what slows down time?

 

[Politico]

No one knows what would happen. It is all a theory.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

Ya, was thinking if time slows for the traveller, then so should everything else. Time itself slows, not just the perception of it as with wear and tear slowing too.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

Ya, was thinking if time slows for the traveller, then so should everything else. Time itself slows, not just the perception of it as with wear and tear slowing too.

yes

to you the traveler "time" would seem normal

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

Ya, was thinking if time slows for the traveller, then so should everything else. Time itself slows, not just the perception of it as with wear and tear slowing too.

yes

to you the traveler "time" would seem normal

Raises an interesting notion: Because everything in the universe is in constant motion, from the Earth as it orbits the Sun, the galaxy itself rotating carrying all the stars and planets around with it, and the galaxy around the cluster of galaxies through the universe, aren't we already subject to some minor effect of time dilation?

Earth around the Sun = velocity=107,300 km/h (or if you prefer 67,062 miles per hour)
Curious About Astronomy At what speed does the earth move around the sun

Sun through the Galaxy = Data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a small spacecraft remotely imaging the nature of particle interactions at the edge of our solar system, reveals our sun is zipping through the local interstellar cloud at about 52,000 miles per hour (83,700 kph).
Sun Slower Than Thought Missing Shock Wave IBEX Mission

Milky Way rotates = The solar system travels at an average speed of 515,000 miles per hour (828,000 kilometers per hour).
Milky Way Galaxy Facts About Our Galactic Home

Milky Way moving through the universe = And how fast is the Milky Way Galaxy moving? The speed turns out to be an astounding 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr)!
ASP How Fast Are You Moving When You Are Sitting Still

Light travelling at 186,282.3976 miles per second is 670,616,631.36 mph. So we're moving roughly 1/600th c 'standing still.'

If anyone knows the formulae for time dilation and wants to work it out there's a 'Thanks' waiting for you. It's beyond me.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

Ya, was thinking if time slows for the traveller, then so should everything else. Time itself slows, not just the perception of it as with wear and tear slowing too.

yes

to you the traveler "time" would seem normal

Raises an interesting notion: Because everything in the universe is in constant motion, from the Earth as it orbits the Sun, the galaxy itself rotating carrying all the stars and planets around with it, and the galaxy around the cluster of galaxies through the universe, aren't we already subject to some minor effect of time dilation?

Earth around the Sun = velocity=107,300 km/h (or if you prefer 67,062 miles per hour)
Curious About Astronomy At what speed does the earth move around the sun

Sun through the Galaxy = Data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a small spacecraft remotely imaging the nature of particle interactions at the edge of our solar system, reveals our sun is zipping through the local interstellar cloud at about 52,000 miles per hour (83,700 kph).
Sun Slower Than Thought Missing Shock Wave IBEX Mission

Milky Way rotates = The solar system travels at an average speed of 515,000 miles per hour (828,000 kilometers per hour).
Milky Way Galaxy Facts About Our Galactic Home

Milky Way moving through the universe = And how fast is the Milky Way Galaxy moving? The speed turns out to be an astounding 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr)!
ASP How Fast Are You Moving When You Are Sitting Still

Light travelling at 186,282.3976 miles per second is 670,616,631.36 mph. So we're moving roughly 1/600th c 'standing still.'

If anyone knows the forumlaes for time dilation and wants to work it out there's a 'Thanks' waiting for you. It's beyond me.

yes we are

 

[Vikrant]

This one always gets the best of me.

Let's say I am traveling near the speed of light in my spaceship. Do the electrons take longer to circle in their shells relative to one moving at a "normal" speed thanks to the oval the must run? Is that what slows down time?

When you are talking about time dilation, it is relative to an observer. Without that reference point, the talk of time dilation is meaningless. In my last post, I neglected to mentions that important tidbit. If an object is standing still with respect to an observer, there will be no difference in time at all. It is when an object starts to move with respect to an observer that both party notice the time difference. This implies a lengthening of the period for the object.

Speed of light is constant in vacuum. It is not going to change whether an object is approaching the light or receding away from the light. Keeping that in mind, look at the diagram below:

Time dilation - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Vikrant]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

the maintenance on the ship and the needs of the crew will be relative to you the traveler

Ya, was thinking if time slows for the traveller, then so should everything else. Time itself slows, not just the perception of it as with wear and tear slowing too.

yes

to you the traveler "time" would seem normal

Raises an interesting notion: Because everything in the universe is in constant motion, from the Earth as it orbits the Sun, the galaxy itself rotating carrying all the stars and planets around with it, and the galaxy around the cluster of galaxies through the universe, aren't we already subject to some minor effect of time dilation?

Earth around the Sun = velocity=107,300 km/h (or if you prefer 67,062 miles per hour)
Curious About Astronomy At what speed does the earth move around the sun

Sun through the Galaxy = Data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a small spacecraft remotely imaging the nature of particle interactions at the edge of our solar system, reveals our sun is zipping through the local interstellar cloud at about 52,000 miles per hour (83,700 kph).
Sun Slower Than Thought Missing Shock Wave IBEX Mission

Milky Way rotates = The solar system travels at an average speed of 515,000 miles per hour (828,000 kilometers per hour).
Milky Way Galaxy Facts About Our Galactic Home

Milky Way moving through the universe = And how fast is the Milky Way Galaxy moving? The speed turns out to be an astounding 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr)!
ASP How Fast Are You Moving When You Are Sitting Still

Light travelling at 186,282.3976 miles per second is 670,616,631.36 mph. So we're moving roughly 1/600th c 'standing still.'

If anyone knows the formulae for time dilation and wants to work it out there's a 'Thanks' waiting for you. It's beyond me.

The question needs to be refined a bit. Is Earth an observer or an object in a relative motion to another celestial body? When we are dealing with observers or objects stationed on massive bodies like a planet then we have to take into consideration their masses as well because gravity dilates the time as well. One of the predictions of theory of special relativity is that massive objects such as a black-hole can bend the spacetime around it. Although this prediction has gotten lots of science fiction writers all enthusiastic about space travel through warped space but in reality the research is still going with indirect observations supporting the prediction. Once you have all that data then this is the formula:

Time dilation - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Don't be lazy. Get the calculator out. You can thank Wikipedia and its volunteers for sketching the formula on the web.

 

[Toronado3800]

So if I am flying away from you at near the speed of light will our watches move at different speeds or will mine just appear to move slower to the stationary you.

 

[Politico]

If you could ever move near the speed of light which you can't time would move slower for you. Again it is just a theory.

 

[indiajo]

Mentioning it just now I remembered a question I had about it a while back:

If a spacecraft is travelling fast enough for the astronauts to experience relativistic time dilation, does that time-effect effect the ship as well? I.E. does the ship's need for maintenance get stretched out too? And does the consumption of whatever energy's propelling the vehicle get conserved?

If we go fast enough, could resources for the crew, (air, food, water etc.) and ship maintenance and energy consumption all benefit by the time dilaiton effects?

No. Because if you're on this ship you won't even notice.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

If you could ever move near the speed of light which you can't time would move slower for you. Again it is just a theory.

Well no, it's not a theory, time dilation was proven decades ago. They stuck an atomic clock on a jet and flew it around a while at guess 'jet speeds' then compared it to a ground-based atomic clock. The one in the jet was slower than the ground-based thus proving time dilation.

 

[Vikrant]

So if I am flying away from you at near the speed of light will our watches move at different speeds or will mine just appear to move slower to the stationary you.

Your observation of your clock is your business and does not affect my observation. From my perspective, the speed of light has not changed but the distance between you and I has changed so it is taking longer for the clock to tick when my signal (light) is bouncing off you. So your velocity is affecting the time as observed by me. This factor is called Lorentz gamma factor. It is named after physicist Hendrik A Lorentz whose work was published in 1904, a year before Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity was published. Here is the formula which describes the relation between your velocity and the gamma factor:
1^2+(γv )^2=γ^2
(Note: for some reason forum software is not recognizing the superscript and also it is converting gamma to y.)

But you can always say that from your perspective, it is me who is moving away so it is my clock which is slow. You will be correct in your assessment. So that creates a paradox. Now the questions is, how do we solve this paradox?

Lorentz transformation along with the model called light cone helps us solve this paradox:
Construction of the Lorentz Transformation

As a post note, here is a diagram that helps you visualize light cone:

World line - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Toronado3800]

If you could ever move near the speed of light which you can't time would move slower for you. Again it is just a theory.

Well no, it's not a theory, time dilation was proven decades ago. They stuck an atomic clock on a jet and flew it around a while at guess 'jet speeds' then compared it to a ground-based atomic clock. The one in the jet was slower than the ground-based thus proving time dilation.

I thought I heard this as well.

What causes the clock to move slower at speed?

I always search for something ohysical I can imagine so I think about the electons having to chase their atoms to circle it.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

If you could ever move near the speed of light which you can't time would move slower for you. Again it is just a theory.

Well no, it's not a theory, time dilation was proven decades ago. They stuck an atomic clock on a jet and flew it around a while at guess 'jet speeds' then compared it to a ground-based atomic clock. The one in the jet was slower than the ground-based thus proving time dilation.

I thought I heard this as well.

What causes the clock to move slower at speed?

I always search for something ohysical I can imagine so I think about the electons having to chase their atoms to circle it.

Almost 8pm, wish I hadn't read this one. Now I"m gonna be up all night, trying to sleep, wondering about the actual mechanism involved.

I don't know what actually causes the time slowing phenomena. Maybe some function of how mass increases with velocity? At light-speed mass becomes infinite, and short of 'c' mass increases. Maybe then as mass increases and you 'sink' further into the fabric of space-time time itself is 'bending' as it falls into that dimple and to you? In effect taking extra time to effect you than if travelling along a flat plane of space-time that isn't dimpled?

I have no idea.