4 ms·
If distances are dilating, why isn't that /less/ ground?
by mjburgess 5y ago
If distances are dilating, why isn't that /less/ ground?
- 3pt14159 5y agoIt basically depends on your perspective. To someone on earth watching the spaceship speed up to the speed of light, the spaceship looks like its contracting. To the person on the spaceship, the rest of the universe looks like it is approaching the speed of light, and hence, contracting.
- shrimp_emoji 5y agoThe distance doesn't dilate; time does. The distance contracts. E.g., to a photon moving at 1c, the whole universe has a contracted length of 0 meters, and it crosses the whole universe instantly. To us, observers at <1c, the whole universe has a non-contracted length of <a lot> and the photon takes <a long time> to cross the whole universe. By the time the photon's 0-second journey across the entire universe has finished (whatever that means), we're all extremely old. :D This is the time dilation meme of slowly-aging space travelers but taken to the extreme.
- redwood 5y agoThanks for the clarification
- tobtoh 5y agoSo if I was in a space battle and the enemy 'jumps to light speed'(1) to make a quick escape ... they would actually be easier to target with a laser because they 'slow down' from my perspective? (1) 'light speed' as in the speed of light, not as in a sci-fi context of hyperspace jump/FTL jump.
- micw 5y ago> E.g., to a photon moving at 1c, the whole universe has a contracted length of 0 meters, and it crosses the whole universe instantly. Since the universe expands with >1c, I wonder if the photon actually crosses the whole universe. And if not, how it would look like from the prespective of the photon?