Eli5 if time is relative and gets effected by gravity how could we possibly determine the age of our universe?
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We know the age of the universe RELATIVE to our reference point.
Something to note about the speed of light, it’s relative. You’ve heard it all the time but what does it mean?
So I’ll pose a question. A thought experiment. You’re driving a spaceship at 99.9% of the speed of light. You turn the headlights on. How fast is the light traveling? 0.01% the speed of light? 100%?
The answer is 100% of the speed of light. Because it’s relative. It’s relative to the observer (welcome quantum physics!) so in this case, relative to the spaceship.
So speed is a difficult concept to grasp in space. On earth, all of our speed is in reference to the earth itself. You’re traveling 100mph along the surface of the earth.
In space what’s the reference point? There is one. So you are a reference point for everything that you observe. Light cannot travel faster then the speed of light FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE. According to you
So yea time is relative and the age of the universe is all weird and affected by gravity and all of it. But we can calculate the age of the universe ACCORDING TO OUR POINT OF REFERENCE.
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