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SpookyAction_
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- If time slows down near the speed of light and space shrinks, doesn't that create a paradox?
So I was reading a book on special relativity and it was explaining how, if we were to go very near the speed of light, time (relative to us traveling) would slow and space itself would condense. It used the example that if we were to try and travel to a galaxy 1 million light years away, Yet we flew at 99% the speed of light it would only take us 50 years to arrive. (These are not exact numbers found using the gamma equation I'm simply paraphrasing for the concept)
However this confused me. Is this not essentially saying that "relative to us" we are traveling faster when moving SLOWER than the speed of light? Is special relativity asserting that light only takes 1 million years to reach us relative to us sitting "stationary" (not really but comparativley) on earth.
And if we were in "light's shoes" as it were, barrelling towards the Earth from 1 million light years away it would really only be 50 years.
Moreover if this is correct and truly all time is relative what does that mean for our current cosmological timeline for the big bang and other historic cosmological events? How can we be sure of our measurements.
I'm sure there's something I'm missing here but I don't know what. Thank you!
However this confused me. Is this not essentially saying that "relative to us" we are traveling faster when moving SLOWER than the speed of light? Is special relativity asserting that light only takes 1 million years to reach us relative to us sitting "stationary" (not really but comparativley) on earth.
And if we were in "light's shoes" as it were, barrelling towards the Earth from 1 million light years away it would really only be 50 years.
Moreover if this is correct and truly all time is relative what does that mean for our current cosmological timeline for the big bang and other historic cosmological events? How can we be sure of our measurements.
I'm sure there's something I'm missing here but I don't know what. Thank you!
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