Harte
Senior Member
- Messages
- 4,562
Re: Time travel, Multiverse, Relativity & Apollo
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"fanavans\")</div>
What happens next depends on what you mean by "almost speed of light." At some point not too far in the past, I posted the equation that would solve this problem for you right here in a response I made somewhere on this board. Don't remember it exactly now, but even if I did, I can't do a square root in my head. It's a fairly simple equation though, and fun to play with. It tells you how much time will go by on Earth given Mr. A's speed and time of absence. You can probably find it with the search utility here or you can google "Einstein's field equations special relativity."
Anyway, the gist of it is, if Mr. A was going only a tiny fraction of the speed of light, Mr. B would become irritated because A is late. But A would show up after a short while, after which if they were Irish they'd have a huge argument about whether or not A was late (A's watch would show him on time, B's watch would show him several minutes late.) After that they'd probably make up, go to the pub and have a few pints.
Now, if A was actually traveling at "almost the speed of light", say 99.999% of lightspeed, then Mr. B would get really really irritated. He would eventually give up on A and go home. Then in due course he would grow old and die. Civilizations would rise and fall. Several ice ages would come and go. Charleton Heston would discover apes running the world and curse with his naked butt hanging out in front of the remains of the Statue of Liberty. The sun would eventually go nova, killing everything in the solar system. Mr A would return , be surprised and say "what the hell's wrong with that Mr. B? I told him to meet me here and he just blows me off?"
Harte
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"fanavans\")</div>
Fanavans,
What happens next depends on what you mean by "almost speed of light." At some point not too far in the past, I posted the equation that would solve this problem for you right here in a response I made somewhere on this board. Don't remember it exactly now, but even if I did, I can't do a square root in my head. It's a fairly simple equation though, and fun to play with. It tells you how much time will go by on Earth given Mr. A's speed and time of absence. You can probably find it with the search utility here or you can google "Einstein's field equations special relativity."
Anyway, the gist of it is, if Mr. A was going only a tiny fraction of the speed of light, Mr. B would become irritated because A is late. But A would show up after a short while, after which if they were Irish they'd have a huge argument about whether or not A was late (A's watch would show him on time, B's watch would show him several minutes late.) After that they'd probably make up, go to the pub and have a few pints.
Now, if A was actually traveling at "almost the speed of light", say 99.999% of lightspeed, then Mr. B would get really really irritated. He would eventually give up on A and go home. Then in due course he would grow old and die. Civilizations would rise and fall. Several ice ages would come and go. Charleton Heston would discover apes running the world and curse with his naked butt hanging out in front of the remains of the Statue of Liberty. The sun would eventually go nova, killing everything in the solar system. Mr A would return , be surprised and say "what the hell's wrong with that Mr. B? I told him to meet me here and he just blows me off?"
Harte
