We just started doing relativity in Physics class, man, what a mind bender, has anyone else studied this? Basically it's Einstein's theory of relativity and unlike how Newton thought time was always the same, no matter who it is or where you are, time and space actually dilutes for each person. This is the theory behind the original Planet of The Apes, they're going so fast that everyone around them ages while they stay the same.
Basically it involves that if you're going close to the speed of light in a spaceship (you can't go at or faster then the speed of light, you'd need an infinite mass so it's impossible) then relative to someone stationary outside the spaceship, you're actually aging and moving slower then them. So for instance, if you travel for 5 seconds then perhaps it might have been 10 minutes for them. This is what brings rise to the Twins Paradox. If you were 20 years old and had an identicle twin and you left in a spaceship and came back 2 years later, your twin may be 80 years old while you're still only 22. Crazy, isn't it?
What's even crazier is that the space around you stretches and shrinks as well, so again, if you're going close to the speed of light then someone looking at you would see your ship really compressed, ie, if it was normally 10m long, they may see it as 7m instead. Likewise, if you looked outside then you would see them as really thin rather then their normal size. One thing to note about this though is that it's only stretched in the direction you're heading, so for instance, in the previous example I'm assuming we're travelling sideways to someone (like a car would), so that way they get thinner but their height and depth remains the same.
This is really strange but apparently this theory is supposed to be correct and that it actually happens in real life. It's quite hard to comprehend when you think about it. Basically two people look at their watches, one's going close to the speed of light, individually each person sees their watch going normally and correctly but if you both look at the other person's watch then they will look as if they're going slow. Weird.
Anyway, has anyone else studied this kind of thing and do they think it's correct and that this really happens? I find it all quite interesting despite how mentally challenging it is lol.
P.S. This is my 3000th post exactly, I spend way too much time here.
"Computers are useless they can only give you answers." 