- #1
Galactic explosion
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- 9
I understand time dilation in both special and general relativity in terms of motion, ie. an object in a gravitational field will move slower than an object outside the field, as the spacetime causes the object in the field to take a longer path to the same destination. Same goes for two objects absent of gravity just traveling at a faster rate than the other object next to it, which will cause one of the objects to get to the destination faster, and therefore take less time.
The part of time dilation I don't understand, is the mechanical part of an actual clock. How do two physical clocks with an hour hand and a minute hand that started off with the exact same time, end up showing completely different intervals when one is subjected to extremely high speeds or warped gravitational fields? What exactly causes the hands of the watches to slow down? Do physicists mean this in a literal sense? I just can't wrap my mind around how one watch will change from the other just by one of them traveling near the speed of light. I understand how the time to get to a destination is faster, but the watch PHYSICALLY changes too? How does the watch know to change? The watch shouldn't care what's happening in reality, as it's programmed to a certain MECHANICAL time.
Apparently this has been proven by atomic clocks, measuring extremely small variations in terms of nanoseconds. But I still don't understand how the physical numbers on the clock will change.
The part of time dilation I don't understand, is the mechanical part of an actual clock. How do two physical clocks with an hour hand and a minute hand that started off with the exact same time, end up showing completely different intervals when one is subjected to extremely high speeds or warped gravitational fields? What exactly causes the hands of the watches to slow down? Do physicists mean this in a literal sense? I just can't wrap my mind around how one watch will change from the other just by one of them traveling near the speed of light. I understand how the time to get to a destination is faster, but the watch PHYSICALLY changes too? How does the watch know to change? The watch shouldn't care what's happening in reality, as it's programmed to a certain MECHANICAL time.
Apparently this has been proven by atomic clocks, measuring extremely small variations in terms of nanoseconds. But I still don't understand how the physical numbers on the clock will change.