Special Relativity: Time dilation

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                                                                                                                                                                                Do You Wish Time Would Slow Down? : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR

One of the biggest myths of all time is that time runs at the same rate for everyone. Einstein's theory of special relativity completely disproved this statement by showing how one of the most prominent effects of travelling at high, relativistic speeds is time dilation. This concept, now confirmed experimentally, describes how time runs slower at higher velocities.


HOW DO WE CALCULATE TIME DILATION?

Einstein's derived the following formula for time dilation, when v is the speed of the object and c is the speed of light:

                                                                            

While the formula itself is elegant, it gives rise to exciting conclusions about the relation of spacetime:
  • Due to time dilation, the time elapsed in a moving object is always lesser than the time elapsed outside the moving object.
  • However, using the formula, the speed required for a 1% lag in time would be 14% the speed of light.
  • For a lag of factor 60, the speed required would equivalently be 99.986% the speed of light. 
As a comparison, the maximum speed a manned aircraft has ever reached is 2020 m/s, where time dilation for the crew would be 0.0000000023%, which is negligible. Hence, pragmatically, we are far from reaching speeds that have a significant impact on our relation with time.


Nevertheless, time dilation helps to correct anomalies where precision and accuracy is extremely important, such as satellites for GPS systems. Even a tiny anomaly, can cause errors equivalent to miles on earth. Learn more about the derivation and reasoning of time dilation, and about special relativity in its entirety, through this oversimplified presentation.

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