Math Is Fun Forum

DarkLightA

Member

Registered: 2009-05-27

Posts: 16

A man sent into the future

According to scientists, a man who was in space for 7 years came back and was 1/50th of a second "ahead of himself". This has something to do with Einstein's Theorem of Relativity I think.

This has also been done with a type of clock, of which two clocks were started the same, and one was sent into space.

THIS IS FASCINATING!

DLA

noobard

Member

Registered: 2009-06-07

Posts: 28

Re: A man sent into the future

I didnt get the meaning of ahead of himself... can u enlighten further dark light

---

Everything that has a begining has an EnD!!!

DarkLightA

Member

Registered: 2009-05-27

Posts: 16

Re: A man sent into the future

He is basically sent 1/50th of a second into the future, so he dies 1/50th of a second further into the future than he's meant to

integer

Member

Registered: 2008-02-21

Posts: 79

Re: A man sent into the future

According to scientists, a man who was in space for 7 years came back and was 1/50th of a second "ahead of himself". This has something to do with Einstein's Theorem of Relativity I think.

This has also been done with a type of clock, of which two clocks were started the same, and one was sent into space.

THIS IS FASCINATING!

DLA

You need to re-read the article. 
You really need to understand the Relativity theory.

The man did not get "ahead of himself". 
His clock and existence DUE TO HIS SPEED occurred at a slower rate when compared to those on the surface of the earth.

DarkLightA

Member

Registered: 2009-05-27

Posts: 16

Re: A man sent into the future

I see.. You'd better talk to the Guinness Book editors then.. Largest Time Shifting of a Human

Ricky

Moderator

Registered: 2005-12-04

Posts: 3,791

Re: A man sent into the future

Largest Time Shifting of a Human

This is the correct phrasing.  What happens is that time passes at different rates relative to how fast you're traveling.  So if I leave Earth really fast and my twin stays behind, time for me slows down where as for earth it stays the same.  If I return to earth, I will be younger than my twin.

You actually don't need to go fast, just being caught in a gravity well will do the trick.  If you sit outside a black hole and are close enough to it, what seems like 1 year for you could be like 100 years for the people on Earth.  You come back an all the people you used to know are gone.  Or perhaps if you had a terminal disease, you could wait until they find a cure.

---

"In the real world, this would be a problem.  But in mathematics, we can just define a place where this problem doesn't exist.  So we'll go ahead and do that now..."