Eli5: How does gravity affect time, dumb it down for me as much as possible
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You and a friend are on an extremely fast rocket ship that is accelerating VERY fast. Your friend turns on a flashlight and shines it at the wall. If you are watching you would expect it to go horizontal to the wall. But if you’re going fast enough, it would actually take a curve downward (because the wall of the ship is moving up while the light is moving toward it, making it appear to bend downward). Now the curved path is longer than a straight path, right? So the acceleration of the ship caused the light to make a longer path. BUT…light always moves at the same speed, no matter what. How can light move at the same speed but go different distances (horizontal if still, curved if moving)? Well, speed = distance / time. If the speed is the same and the distance is longer, then time must be longer as well to keep the ratio the same.
This thought experiment demonstrates that fast enough acceleration can actually slow the rate of time that the path of light takes.
Okay so on more step: gravity is really nothing but an acceleration…we are all being accelerated to the center of gravity. So therefor, gravity as well can “bend” time.
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