Outer space where there was no gravity

[cragar]

Main Question or Discussion Point

This might be a dumb question but if we could some how get into outer space where there was no gravity except I guess for are gravitational field. would time tick infinitely fast at this point.

 

[tgramling]

Time would tick normally at one second per second just like here on earth, it would only change if you reached near the speed of light, but in that case time would tick slower.

 

[Jame]

It might be worth noting that you still wouldn't notice any difference when traveling at high speeds, it's only when you go back to earth frame and notice that the people have grown old faster than you.

Something Richard Feynman stresses in his books is the principle of not knowing your absolute speed. Relativity has to work so that there is no way you can tell whether you're moving or not, since there is no such thing as absolute speed. Otherwise we would be able to tell exactly how the earth is moving in space and thereby determine a kind of universal origin, which seems very strange the more you think about it. The principle helps in ruling out unreal scenarios from thought experiments.

 

[cragar]

so is there a limit on how fast time can tick

 

[russ_watters]

The original question doesn't make much sense. Time passes at a rate of 1 second per second for you, period. But there is no limit on how fast you percieve time to be progressing for someone else. If you are high above the center of a gravitational field and someone else is deep in it, they can perceive your time to be passing infinitely fast, depending on how deep in it they are/how strong it is.

 

[monty37]

time ticking at 1second could appear fast to us in earth frame,but this could be a very
slow rate in another frame ,right?

 

[russ_watters]

time ticking at 1second could appear fast to us in earth frame...

I don't know what you mean. Since time only ever passes at one rate for us, words like fast and slow to describe our time alone have no meaning. Can a car move faster than itself?

...but this could be a very slow rate in another frame ,right?

Someone in another frame could measure our time to be passing at a much slower rate (or a much faster rate) than theirs, yes.

 

[monty37]

iam sorry, thats what i meant ,someone in another frame could measure our
time to be passing at a much slower or faster rate than theirs.

 

[cragar]

Time passes at a rate of 1 second per second for you, period.

How can we define time with time the seconds would cancel.

 

[russ_watters]

How can we define time with time the seconds would cancel.

What I just gave you is not the definition of time, just an explanation of the rate.

 

[Hertz]

Well first of all, there is always gravity from everything, nothing in the universe isn't effecting you right now (however small the pull might be.)

But to answer your question, time doesn't go slower when you are moving faster, time always goes the exact same speed. It's only when you compare times that you find a difference. You could be traveling half the speed of light and your time would tick the exact same time as someone else who has another clock of identical structure (from each others perspective.) But if you were to look at their stationary clock while you were traveling half the speed of light, it would appear to be moving slower. It also works vica versa.