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LosBoogie
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I’m currently reading “The Elegant Universe”. I’ve just finished the sections on Special and General Relativity, and I want to make sure I understand as much as I can before going on to Quantum Mechanics.
He uses wonderful analogies to describe most aspects of Relativity, and I feel that I have a good conceptual grasp on most of them. He states many times, however, that an object that can feel acceleration will know that it is the one in motion, and therefore will agree that time has passed more slowly than a stationary object. There are no good analogies in the book to help me understand why this is.
For instance, in the example of George and Gracie floating through space and sycronizing their clocks as they pass each other. He says that if George was wearing a jet pack, and turned it on so that he could catch up with Gracie, he would feel that he was accelerating and would agree that his clock is ticking more slowly than Gracie’s... I don't get it.
Another thing that seems paradoxical to me: What if, after synchronizing their clocks, they were both wearing jetpacks turned them on at the exact same time, just long enough to get them floating back toward each other. When they met back up, would they not each argue that they had the faster clock, and that less time had passed for the other?
Any help would be appreciated.
-los
He uses wonderful analogies to describe most aspects of Relativity, and I feel that I have a good conceptual grasp on most of them. He states many times, however, that an object that can feel acceleration will know that it is the one in motion, and therefore will agree that time has passed more slowly than a stationary object. There are no good analogies in the book to help me understand why this is.
For instance, in the example of George and Gracie floating through space and sycronizing their clocks as they pass each other. He says that if George was wearing a jet pack, and turned it on so that he could catch up with Gracie, he would feel that he was accelerating and would agree that his clock is ticking more slowly than Gracie’s... I don't get it.
Another thing that seems paradoxical to me: What if, after synchronizing their clocks, they were both wearing jetpacks turned them on at the exact same time, just long enough to get them floating back toward each other. When they met back up, would they not each argue that they had the faster clock, and that less time had passed for the other?
Any help would be appreciated.
-los
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