I have only a very vague awareness of the idea of relativity but I’m aware that there’s a concept that people in orbit experience less time than those on the planet due to gravity, in some way.
Does this mean that the idea of “now”, as in a moment that is right now, is marginally different for people in other places? Are they experiencing a moment that is in my objective future/past, in a mathematical sense?
In: Physics
This is time dilation. The faster an object moves through space, the slower it moves through time. People on the Earth are in fact moving at different speeds based on the rotation of the Earth (faster at the equator or at higher elevations, for example), but the difference is so small that the relativistic effects are negligible.
Once you get into space, things change. The ISS is traveling at 17,500 MPH relative to Earth, and that is measurable. It’s not significant, though – in a year on the ISS, you will have aged 0.01 seconds less than someone on Earth.
So, yes, as you are reading this, someone in space or on the other side of the planet is experiencing time differently, but not in any way that affects the human experience, and whatever they are doing is the same “now” as yours.
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