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> This is Sci-Fi territory in my mind. Simpler Sci without the Fi, but still incredible to lay people, is that earth’s gravity and the movement of the satellit
by wtmt 6y ago
> This is Sci-Fi territory in my mind.
Simpler Sci without the Fi, but still incredible to lay people, is that earth’s gravity and the movement of the satellites cause time dilation that’s accounted for in GPS satellite clocks and the receiver clocks. It’s amazing how much the Special Relativity and General Relativity influence our daily lives.
See: The Wikipedia entry on GPS.
- spyder 6y agoYes: Time go faster at the top of a building compared to the bottom. https://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/06/24/does-time-go-faster-at-the-top-of-a-building-compared-to-the-bottom/ https://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/06/24/does-time-go-faster-...
- saagarjha 6y agoWell, it’s that and also their speed, the effects of which are predicted by general and special relativity respectively.
- saagarjha 6y ago> It’s amazing how much the Special Relativity and General Relativity influence our daily lives. I mean aside from the obvious one of it being an underlying theory for how the universe works and without it a lot of stuff would break it is really not that huge a part of most people’s lives. Sure, the GPS example is a fun one to bring up, but other than that there’s just a few things that we interact with that actually have a noticeable effect due to relativity, like some of the very characteristic properties of heavier metals or the design of particle accelerators, which many people used to have in their house until recently. And I guess you could go out and look at Einstein’s cross. But other than that it really doesn’t affect us that much.
- chrisweekly 6y agoHa! Apparently other mods didn't, but I appreciate your sense of humor. :)
- wruza 6y agoIt barely mentions the effect. Better see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_Positioning_System#Relativity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Globa... tl;dr we perceive gps satellites clock ticks faster due to lower gravity (+46us/day), but slower due to motion (-7us/day).
- brainless 6y agoYou are absolutely right. I guess I was just fascinated because of the stated difference, which some have pointed out is off by a factor of 10! Yikes, so much for reporting.