Gravity and time perception.

I was watching a show on TV and they showed an example of an experiment where they had two clocks in sync and raised one by 12 inches and it actually slowed down. From what I recall they proved that gravity had an effect on our perception of time. Now my question is how does the physics of space and time correlate to a specific gravity? How does this effect space travel? Any and all input is appreciated.

so i may be an amerature with the physics tho i have followed my interest in it but sometimes my head gets too wrapped around some of the weirder concepts of it and im not sure exactly all how much of it ive retained through all of my research on it

what i can say if it helps though is from what i remember to believe hearing is that the stronger the force of gravity then the more slower time would travel? if you were to imagine a black hole that was so dense and immense that its gravity was strong enough to slow down the speed of light that would mean time would also become slower because light is always constant and relevant to time... if that helps?

ps. in relation to space travel if an astronaut we're to travel around the stars going say one tenth the speed of light for 10 years, when they would return it would be 10 years later for him but 100 years for everyone else... unless im thinking backwards right now, like i said the physics stuff gets me sometimes im more of a social thinker than math but i think i was carrying the decimal place correctly

reply to post by swampcricket


This is a very complicated subject and I am no expert. That being said, time is experienced differently depending on how fast the observer is traveling. The faster you travel, you experience less time. You always experience time in the same speed first hand but compared to other observers you have experienced less time.

Let me put it another way, that's easier to understand. If you could travel at the speed of light and you traveled 5 minutes into space, 5 minutes back to earth, you would see the Earth has aged 100 years (numbers might be a bit off).

Another example, people that fly a lot will actually live a lot longer than someone that does not fly. I need to find a source on this, one is out there but it's not coming to mind at the moment.

So if you take all of this into account, if you think of gravity as the center of an object that is spinning. The farther away from the center would mean you are traveling faster. The farther away, the faster you go. The faster you go, time slows down for you.

It's very complicated and very interesting.

reply to post by litterbaux


Well I travel a lot by aircraft due to my job so maybe I will be around for a bit. I say that I understand the logic behind what you posted but at the same time it's hard for my brain to lock onto it. And what's sad is that I'm an electrical engineer and that little gravity $hit and time baffles me. Thanks for the info.

How do you explain air travel then?
Are we in a time machine when we fly?

reply to post by AllUrChips


Air travel is kind of like a time machine. A very slow one, heh. The study I'm referring to and I'm sorry I can't seem to find it but they had a watch that was synchronized with another watch. One watch stayed in the same place and the other watch was flown across the country over and over again for a year. The watch that was on the plane was over an hour off.

Seems small but how significant is time to us. We literally live our lives off the clock, when you realize its not relative it becomes very significant even in small amounts.

reply to post by litterbaux


By saying that flying messes with the relativity of time does that contradict einsteins theory of relativity or does it follow it? I'm asking because I'm not sure.

reply to post by swampcricket


I have a feeling gravity is its own dimension. Then again, if you study theoretical physics for as long as I have it will drive you crazy, so crazy you will just grasp onto any straw that might be the answer.

Have fun on your journey, keep me updated if you figure anything out.

Originally posted by litterbaux
reply to post by swampcricket

 

I have a feeling gravity is its own dimension. Then again, if you study theoretical physics for as long as I have it will drive you crazy, so crazy you will just grasp onto any straw that might be the answer.

Have fun on your journey, keep me updated if you figure anything out.

Oh believe me I will. I am just now getting into the theoretical physics (string theory) and quantum physics. Gravity baffles me because as far as I can tell people have only theories on how it relates to space/time. It's kind of like asking where the end of the universe is. But back on topic in theory if humans were traveling to lets say mars and it took 3 yrs they would really not age the 3 yrs as they would have on earth but once they got to mars due to its gravity they would pick up the aging process relevant to the gravity of mars?

have you considered that gravity is just the combination of magnetically charged protons and electrons for the whole being magnetized to our earth's core?

Originally posted by hottoboggan
have you considered that gravity is just the combination of magnetically charged protons and electrons for the whole being magnetized to our earth's core?

Well I might be wrong but the moon has no magnetic field but still has gravity. I see your point but magnetism and gravity aren't the same as far as I know. Like I said I could be wrong.

en.wikipedia.org...

note: higher magnetism in impact craters.

en.wikipedia.org...

note: higher gravity in impact craters.

food for thought

reply to post by swampcricket

Originally posted by swampcricket

Gravity baffles me because as far as I can tell people have only theories on how it relates to space/time.

Well its not hard to understand how it relates to space. Think of a sheet held tightly from all sides, put a brick in the middle and roll a marble onto the sheet. Soft enough to not make the marble fly off the sheet but hard enough so it almost hits the edge. Thats how gravity effects space.

Time is a separate dimension, I don't think gravity and time effect each other. They both exist separately and distort reality in different ways.

Originally posted by litterbaux
reply to post by swampcricket

 

Originally posted by swampcricket

Gravity baffles me because as far as I can tell people have only theories on how it relates to space/time.

Well its not hard to understand how it relates to space. Think of a sheet held tightly from all sides, put a brick in the middle and roll a marble onto the sheet. Soft enough to not make the marble fly off the sheet but hard enough so it almost hits the edge. Thats how gravity effects space.

Time is a separate dimension, I don't think gravity and time effect each other. They both exist separately and distort reality in different ways.

Oh yeah I know about the marble thing. But a previous post by another member tossed in magnetism as a possible reason for gravity. With the marble example it would be more related to mass than magnetism. I am just taking in all possibilities. Time is really a fun topic when it comes to space and space bodies. I can't explain it yet but hopefully this thread will throw in all kinds of possibilities to think about.

If you fly around the earth fast enough, you can slow ageing.

reply to post by swampcricket


I studied the connection with gravity/magnetism, the effect is there but cannot explain places like the moon. The moon has less mass and less gravity. I think at a molecular level you can explain gravity with magnetism but when dealing with large bodies it's not accurate at all.

Life is time.

Originally posted by DAZ21
If you fly around the earth fast enough, you can slow ageing.

The space shuttle orbited earth at around 17,500 mph did that slow the aging of the astronauts on board?

science.ksc.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by hottoboggan
Life is time.

So if life is time does that mean that you start dying the minute you are born? Does it just take some people longer to die? Just saying.

Gravity does affect time:





The effect is REALLY small: In 300km height it is about 1 millisecond per year. You will not live percievably longer if you fly a lot. Thats only the effect of those boring flights and the check-ins and -outs..