Recommended for: Grades 6-12
Resource: Speed of Light: Time Traveler
Media Type:
Shockwave Interactive
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Size: 130.7 KB
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity suggests, among other things, that time slows down for an object traveling near the speed of light in relation to a stationary observer. In this interactive game from the NOVA Web site, send a person on a speeding rocket to far-off stars and learn how velocity and distance traveled influence how the person ages compared with someone on Earth.
Supplemental Media Available:
Speed of Light: Time Traveler (HTML Interactive)
Teachers' Domain, Speed of Light: Time Traveler, published January 22, 2004, retrieved on ,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.fund.ertimetr/
- Background Essay
- Questions for Discussion
- Standards
Print Background EssayThat time in the moving reference frame passes more slowly than time in the stationary reference frame is a concept known as time dilation. This means that a clock in motion with respect to a stationary observer is perceived by the observer to run more slowly than a stationary clock. The closer the moving clock's velocity to the speed of light, the more its seconds appear to get stretched out. It's not the mechanics of the clock that get stretched out; it's that time itself gets dilated. Applying this to a biological clock, then, a person traveling on a rocket ship at great speed -- like the twin who travels through space in the "Time Traveler" activity on this Web site -- would age more slowly relative to an observer on Earth.
Though it seems far-fetched, time dilation is a real phenomenon, proven by experiment. In 1971, scientists tested Einstein's theory on time dilation using atomic clocks, which are capable of measuring time to the billionth of a second. One clock was set to record time on the ground, while another traveled around the world at 600 miles per hour on board a jet. Though both clocks showed the same time at the start of the experiment, the jet's on-board clock was behind by a few billionths of a second at the completion. Just as Einstein would have predicted, time had passed more slowly for the clock traveling at a fast speed. Projecting these results over a much greater speed -- like c, the speed of light -- the time difference would be much more exaggerated.
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See Also:
K-12 Subject:
Cosmology
Light
The Special Theory of Relativity
Source: NOVA: "Einstein Revealed"
This resource can be found on the NOVA: "Einstein Revealed" Web site.
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