Say I get on a Sci-Fi speed Rocket Ship and leave Earth at .999999% the Speed of Light to me I travel for 21 minutes reach Mars then U-Turn back to Earth for another 21 minutes at 0.999999% the Speed of Light again. Back on Earth if I compared my watch to someone else’s would my watch be slightly ahead or slightly behind?
Like if I’m the one traveling I’d expect their watch to be slightly ahead of mine because slightly less time has passed. But at the same time from my frame of view. Earth and my bussy with the watch just shot away from me for 21 minutes and then returned and came back 21 minutes later so my watch should be ahead of theirs since they were the one traveling.
In: Physics
The object under acceleration would be the one undergoing dilation in the form of time slowing. While you can’t determine who is in motion in the situation of two objects at aconstant velocity, you’d be able to measure your acceleration away from Earth, your deceleration, your acceleration back towards Earth, and your deceleration again.
Comparing to your observations of Earth’s “motion,” and knowledge of dilation effects, you’d be able to calculate that Earth didn’t move (any more than it normally does) and this would agree with measurements in their reference frame (a key concept underpinning relativity).
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