Time Dilation.

[Parsa44]

Reccently i decided to go ahead of the school cirriculam (like i was about 1 yr back) and learn about quantum physics and einstiens theory of relativity (general and special)

Quantum theory was simple enough, since it was un-understanable with the level of knoledge the human race has now i grasped that pretty easily.

But when i got to time dilation i got a bit stuck.

Einstein stated that time goes slower for people who travel faster, in comparison to the people traveling slower right?

Also as einstein calculated
the speed of time is constant.
the distance traveled by time is dependable on the speed (which is constant)
so time must be a variable?

Now i understand that time is a variable... but
if
TIME = DISTANCE(depenable on the speed of light) * SPEED(speed of light)

Then light must be a representation of speed?

This is perfectly logical in a photon clock.

But when we say that time will go slower in refrence to aging and wrist watches it longer makes sense to me?

In other words i fail to see the link between TIME and THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
Or the distance that the light is travleing.

In my perception time is my wrist watch which ticks evrey time the cogs move.

Can anybody help me

REPUTATION WILL BE AWARDED

[tittat]

Nice question Parsa44, i will try to answer your question in a simple way......

Suppose you are given a chance to spend an hour with your girl friend, you will feel that one hour as just a minute.And you will be wondering why the clock runs too fast....

Take another case, you are put inside a hot furnace for one hour.You will feel that one hour as one Year.And you will be wondering...... Uhhh why the clock moves too slowly...

Got the idea????

[Parsa44]

Well according to videos and books i have read, time will be traveling at a normal speed for you, your pulse wil be normal, and your brain waves will be normal. You wont even notice the change.

However a spectator will be wondering why you are taking so long to arrive.

[skylitdesigners]

no its no

[ichwar]

tittat's got it wrong. Your problem parsa is that you don't see time a a subjective thing. Time is only the measurement that we have invented to be able to reference events in order of their happening. Time remains the same no matter what happens. What does change though when you travel faster is that you get closer and closer the speed of light the faster you go! eventually (in theory) you'll hit the speed of light. at that point, you'll be travelling as fast as light. now, the speed of light, is the speed of decay, if you can live your whole life at the speed of light, you'll never age, but time will still be passing here on earth. time is just a measurement, it's not at all tied to the speed of light or the speed of travel. what are tied together are the speed of light and the speed of travel, but the faster you go, time will remain the same because it's only a measurement, not an actual thing.
does that make sense? probably not, I'm not very good at explaining things. but let me know if there's a particular thing in what I said that you don't understand and I'll try and explain it better.

[zen-r]

No, I'm afraid I think both tittat & ichwar are wrong (according to the theory). My (limited) understanding of the theory is that time is relative. And the faster you travel, the more time will change.

But, to clarify: (as was said by Parsa44) time will be travelling at a normal speed for you. It is only relative to others that your speed will change (ie. they will appear to be moving/ageing slowly or fast, as will you to them). And it is only during the actual acceleration or deceleration (I believe) that time will speed up or slow down.

Scientific experiments years ago claim to have proven this. They put some very accurate atomic clocks aboard a flight (rocket or jet, I can't remember) & after the flight observed that the time had changed relative to another clock which had remained stationary the whole time. But the changes were only incredibly small. You must be moving very fast, approaching the speed of light, to notice any significant change in relative time.

To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much about all these theories. Whilst they are good food for the brain, & can sometimes help to explain observable phonemena, they are often overturned by future generations. I studied physics to quite a high level some years ago, but lost interest in the advanced stuff as it seemed to become more & more speculation rather than clear fact. And often the facts leave yet more new questions that then have to be answered!

I'm not totally convinced by Einstein's theory. It's as good as we've got at the moment, but don't forget that long-established theories often later get shown to be slightly or wholly incorrect. And here's a question for you to get you puzzling further; if nothing can travel at the speed of light, how can light do it?!

You may wish to check out this bbc news story;

Einstein's theory 'may be wrong'

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[chingola]

I would have to agree with zen-r on all this. You have to also understand that many theories have been wrong as we discover more. The base is ok, however as we learn more about everything the more theories will fall to the wayside.
Just go with the current data and theories and work from there, you may be the one to prove someones theory right or wrong or come up with a tie in theory.