YW Moderator-80–
“the speed at which you can measure the time difference is of course dependent on the sensitivity and accuracy of the time measuring device. You can measure the effect on a moving snail if you have a good enough device…“
I suppose so, but you’d need an exceptionally sterile laboratory to conduct such fine measurements in order to be sure there are no outside influences.
Yes, I’m talking; “in principle” not practically.
“If you were to travel on a light beam that leaves a star 100 light years away from earth. You look at your watch as you leave the star, you look at it again when you arrive on earth, ZERO time will have passed for you and for your watch. But to the people on earth, if they could somehow have observed your voyage, they would measure that 100 years had elapsed from the time you left the star until you got here. Something like that.“
I read a sci-fi book a few decades ago where the heroes had to take an interstellar trip at near-light speed. It mentioned that the trip would be relatively short from the astronauts’ perspective, but by the time they returned to Earth, 100 Earth-years would have passed and all their relatives and acquaintances would be gone.
I never heard of Dr. Gerald Schroeder or his book, but according to most Amazon reviewers it’s quite good.
WolfishMusings–
I did a quick search on “time dilation” and “space travel”.
I was unable to find an article similar to what I remember reading, but I did find the following:
-Joseph C. Hafele and Richard E. Keating conducted “time difference” experiments by flying atomic clocks areound the world on commercial flights. Google the names for the full story.
– This quote; “Modern-day atomic clocks are so accurate that when synchronizing clocks between different observatories, the effect of time dilation due to transporting the reference clock on an airline flight must be taken into account.” Several sites mention this, but this wording was the most concise.
ZachKessin–
Wikipedia confirms Alpha Centauri is a binary star, with the less-closely located Proxima Centauri joining it to make a triple star.
I’m not sure if the term I used – “double star” – and “binary star” have different meanings; i.e. “binary” possibly denoting a closer relationship.
“First of all do not try to understand relativity without understanding Newton’s laws of motion. It would be like trying to study Kaballah without knowing Tanach first.“
Any book recommendations to give a lay-person a basic understanding? Not too dense, not overly simple, and not too boring. (I’ll leave out the “and while standing on one leg” clause.)