- #1
Seiryu
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I recently came across an article relating to Gliese 581 g and some theoretical information about getting there. It said something along the lines of "while it is 20.3 light years from Earth, passengers aboard a vessel traveling at nearly the speed of light would perceive the journey as nearly instantaneous." This raised a bunch of questions for me that I had never thought about before as I had not previously heard of the concept of time dilation.
I always assumed that time was, well, time. I'd taken the term "light years" to mean that that is how many years the distance would take to travel if going at the speed of light, but now I am just confused. If travel at the speed of light appears to be nearly instantaneous for the traveler while time continues to pass for those that remain stationary then how does it work?
For example let's say that someone travels to Gliese 581 g at near light speed, for them it is no time at all while 20.3 years pass on Earth. Now let's say that after reaching Gilese 581 g that traveler returns to Earth, again at near light speed. Now 40.6 years have passed on Earth while the round trip time for the traveler was nothing at all, right? Or does the return trip somehow reverse the time dilation to make it balance out, in the sense that it would now seems like 20.3 years for the traveler while it is instantaneous for Earth?
I've never really put much thought into this type of thing before and don't know much about physics, so obviously this is all confusing to me. I've tried to research this on my own and I think what I am describing sounds like the Twin Paradox, but I still don't understand it after reading an explanation of what that is. How is it possible for two entities to each perceive the other to be slower than themselves?
Basically what I am trying to figure out is this. If near light speed travel appear instantaneous to the traveler, therefore making them appear to cease aging during travel while everything around them continues to be affected by the passage of time then doesn't near light speed travel essentially allow you to go into the future? Would going 20 light years away from Earth then turning around and coming back make you find yourself 40 years in the future without having aged?
I suppose that since this is all highly theoretical that a definitive answer is impossible, but I am hoping to be able to at least improve my understanding a little since thus far everything I have read has seemed very vague and only raised more questions rather than answers.
I always assumed that time was, well, time. I'd taken the term "light years" to mean that that is how many years the distance would take to travel if going at the speed of light, but now I am just confused. If travel at the speed of light appears to be nearly instantaneous for the traveler while time continues to pass for those that remain stationary then how does it work?
For example let's say that someone travels to Gliese 581 g at near light speed, for them it is no time at all while 20.3 years pass on Earth. Now let's say that after reaching Gilese 581 g that traveler returns to Earth, again at near light speed. Now 40.6 years have passed on Earth while the round trip time for the traveler was nothing at all, right? Or does the return trip somehow reverse the time dilation to make it balance out, in the sense that it would now seems like 20.3 years for the traveler while it is instantaneous for Earth?
I've never really put much thought into this type of thing before and don't know much about physics, so obviously this is all confusing to me. I've tried to research this on my own and I think what I am describing sounds like the Twin Paradox, but I still don't understand it after reading an explanation of what that is. How is it possible for two entities to each perceive the other to be slower than themselves?
Basically what I am trying to figure out is this. If near light speed travel appear instantaneous to the traveler, therefore making them appear to cease aging during travel while everything around them continues to be affected by the passage of time then doesn't near light speed travel essentially allow you to go into the future? Would going 20 light years away from Earth then turning around and coming back make you find yourself 40 years in the future without having aged?
I suppose that since this is all highly theoretical that a definitive answer is impossible, but I am hoping to be able to at least improve my understanding a little since thus far everything I have read has seemed very vague and only raised more questions rather than answers.