Time Dilation Basics: What It Means for Space Travel

[dr.fluis]

Sorry, this is a very novice question.

If I was floating in space and saw a spaceship go past at (0.75)^0.5, would every 2 seconds for me, be one second to the spaceship?

 

[Doc Al]

Something like that. You and the spaceship would observe each other's clocks to operate slowly by a factor of 2. So you would conclude that during the time the spaceship clock recorded 1 second passing, your clock would record 2 seconds. (And the spaceship observer would conclude the same thing about your clock.)

 

[dr.fluis]

awsome : ) thanks for the reply