Question:
if i left the earth and travelled at the speed of light for 3 yrs how much time would have gone by on earth?
kim_benny
2006-03-14 08:33:22 UTC
if i left the earth and travelled at the speed of light for 3 yrs how much time would have gone by on earth?
Six answers:
The Ry-Guy
2006-03-14 10:22:03 UTC
As your speed increases, the speed of time around you approaches infinity, if that makes any sense. So if you were traveling at 99% the speed of light, you might see many years pass by during the three years you are travelling. If you are actually at the speed of light though, time around you moves infinitely fast, according to the formula anyway. Not sure what that would really be like.
skygreen
2006-03-14 16:38:25 UTC
3 years
mrjeffy321
2006-03-14 16:44:29 UTC
Is that 3 years from your frame of reference?



At the speed of light, time dilation becomes infinite, meaning that for each instant in time you experience, those at rest with respect to you would experience an eternity.



To find the change in time (taking relativity into account), we can use this formula relating "time propper" with "time",



(delta t) = (delta t propper) / sqrt (1 - u^2/c^2)

where (detla t) is the change in "time", (delta t propper) is the change in "time propper", u is the objects velocity, and c is the speed of light.

You can see that as u approaches c, the sqrt() term goes to zero and the overall equation becomes infinite.



If you call "time" the time experienced on Earth and "time propper" the time you experience while traveling at the speed of light with respect to Earth, then "time" blows up to infinity.

If you reverse it and think of what people on Earth would experience while watching you fly away at the speed of light, They would be watchinng a seeminly "frozen" spaceship since time Earth.



Both you in the spaceship and those still on Earth would experience time like normal as it was different since both groups of people are at rest with respect to themselves.
Munchen008
2006-03-14 16:40:51 UTC
According to Einstein's theories, a lot more than three years would have past on earth. I couldn't say how much more because I am not a quantum physicist. It would be interesting to find out though.
brmillend
2006-03-14 16:43:19 UTC
3 years. You aren't bending space-time or anything.
2006-03-14 16:39:46 UTC
three years... it dosn't matter how fast you are going.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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