I am in need of a birdie!

[Bahamut]

thats perfectly okay!!!


*huff* *puff* gotta reach ninety!!!

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You know what happened. We are ONE, WE ARE, ahh.. er... I AM 'S favorit pet pea-cock...teehee and... Stay ahead of the Avalanche or risk being buried...

[AzureWolf]

ummmmm i got one for youo....should i be drinking this much at night??

this took me ages to get the spelling right too

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"I was born of darkness. My fathers eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am..."

"I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go. For all this theres only one thing you should know....."

[Moridin]

I would like to ‘expand’ on the Theory of Relativity

For the less scientific minded people, a simpler explanation of relativity is this:

Observers separated by large distances, and moving relative to each other, will calculate different actual times and rates of time for each other. ‘Rate of time’ is how fast they see and calculate each other’s clock changes compared to their own.

Also, one can only guess when calculating what the other’s “now” might be. One would not be able to confirm that their calculations were correct until light has had time to travel from the other’s location.

A classic example of this is the Twins paradox.

If one twin stays on earth and the other travels to a nearby star, their ‘relative’ times will be different, although all ‘actual’ time will be the same.

Let us say one twin travels to a star 8 light years away at 80% of the speed of light.
At the moment of departure, the star will appear to be 8 years in the past, when viewed from earth

(i.e. if it is the year 2000 here, we are viewing the light from the star that left in the year 1992)

When the space twin is half-way to the star, his view of the Earth and the star will both be from the year 2001 and his ‘relative’ time will be 2003 (when traveling at speeds near the speed of light, space warps and b/c the space twin is traveling at 80% of light speed the ‘dilation’ factor is 60% so in reality it will only take the twin 6 years to reach the star )

So for the twin in space:
Time: 2003
Earth: 2001
Star: 2001
For the twin on Earth
Time: 2005 (earth time)
Space twin: 2001.7
Star: 1997

Now when the twin arrives at the star, his ‘relative’ time is 2006, but the ‘actual’ time is 2010 (remember that at 80% of light speed, in reality it would take 10years to travel 8 light years, but in relative time, b/c of the dilation factor, it would take 6 years)

So for the twin in space
Time: 2006
Earth: 2002 (so for this twin only 2 years have passed on earth)
Star: 2010
For the twin on Earth
Time: 2010 (earth time)
Space twin (2003.3, the twin viewing from earth only sees that the space twin has gone 3.3 light years and is not even ½ to the star, where in reality the space twin has reached the star)
Star: 2002

Now the space twin turns around and heads back to earth. His distance to earth is now reduced to 4.8 light years (8 light years * 60% dilation factor)

At half-way back to earth the times are

Space twin
Time: 2009
Earth: 2011
Star: 2011
Earth twin
Time: 2015 (earth time)
Space twin: 2005 (still hasn’t reached the star yet according to this twin)
Star: 2007

The earth twin finally sees the space twin arrive at the star! (assuming a telescope powerful enough to view a star 8 light years away)
When the earth twin ‘thinks’ they see the space twin arriving at the star, these are the ‘relative’ times

Space twin
Time: 2010.8
Earth: 2016.4
Star: 2011.6
Earth twin
Time: 2018 (earth time)
Space twin: 2006
Star: 2010 (so the earth twin’s perception of the space twin arriving at the star is equal to the space twins perception when he did arrive at the star, i.e. space twin time=2006, star time=2010)

Now the space twin arrives at home
According to his clock, it is 2012, while according to the earth twin’s clock it is 2020. So the space twin has aged only 12 years (remember this is relative to him), while the earth twin has aged 20 years (remember this is actual time that has passed)


I should have stayed in bed!

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Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect from alphabet soup?

[This message has been edited by Moridin (edited 06-05-2001).]