Does time exist in any objective way?

[mike_w]

i saw on a space program before where they had 2x accurate clocks ( the f1 ones maybe ) put one on a jet that circled the earth and when it landed again, it was a good few seconds off the other one..

Not sure it was a good few seconds - I thought they had to use ridiculously accurate atomic clocks for this sort of jazz?

[EvilWeevil]

Mike's right, we're talking tiny fractions of seconds. Still entirely noticeable though if you're using atomic clocks.

[herulach]

Surely the human body's process through-out the life cycle is independent of times passing.
Our definition of time is specific to our species, in that there are 24 hours in the day, not 25. Therefore, it is not possible for time to be objective, uniformly across all species. In the twins situation, the twins would still look identical after the one that was in space for 4 years, as the human body's recession to a wrinkly prune happens anyway, without regard for time. Surely?

No, with reference to the stationary frame (for conveniences sake we'll use the earthbound twin, although its equally possible to accelerate the earth away from the spaceship) 30 years have passed, and he'd be thirty years older. Because the spacebound twin has been accelerating, as the earthly twin watches him, time will have appeared to slowdown, resulting in slower aging for the space man. The converse is also true for the guy in space.

[0iD]

Who cares? let's partay!

[herulach]

Who cares? let's partay!

I;m sure its my twin brother's 5th birthday this week

[Dareos]

Who cares? let's partay!

How can you say that when I may well have a twin brother thats been kidnapped by some fruitcake of a scientist and fired off into outer space in some experimental prototype rocket that supposed to travel at the speed of light but for all we know travels just below it, ensuring that he will age and we will never find the elixer of youth before the black hole we are all living in explodes, smashing the space time continuum and very possibly rupturing the tubes in a particle collider some place in an eternity of universes contained within particle colliders.

[Steve B]

does your twin brother return from space to be adopted by you? to become your brother-son?

[Dareos]

Ffs Steve, we're trying to have a serious discussion about issues that affect us all here, I can't adopt him if he doesn't return!!

[Steve B]

heres food for thought.
Man gets wife pregnant.
Man goes into space, travels at speed of light etc etc. Meanwhile, wife gives birth to baby.
Man returns from speed of light travels having aged only 4 years.
Baby has grown up by 30 years, making his father 26 years younger than him.

[Dareos]

thats a hell of a backlog of child support payments right there

[Duncan_Mon]

heres food for thought.
Man gets wife pregnant.
Man goes into space, travels at speed of light etc etc. Meanwhile, wife gives birth to baby.
Man returns from speed of light travels having aged only 4 years.
Baby has grown up by 30 years, making his father 26 years younger than him.

That doesnt work unless the man was 0 years old when he got his wife pregnant.. i think

[Cloudane]

Golly. This thread makes my head hurt.

I do remember hearing a few times that if you were to whiz around the galaxy at nearly the speed of light and then return to Earth, you'll have travelled to the future. I'm not quite sure how it works. Summat to do with Time Dilation.

Time certainly depends on the observer too, if you want to feel like you've lived a really long life then just sit watching Sky TV adverts all day every day. I do also remember some theory which may be connected to this, that the observation of time passing can be "slow" or "fast" relative to others depending on the state of the brain. Take flies, time passes very slowly for them so they see you trying to swat them before you've even realised what you're doing.

[Dareos]

That doesnt work unless the man was 0 years old when he got his wife pregnant.. i think

yeeessss..... but if he went faster than the speed of light, travelled back in time, got his wife pregnant and then travelled around at the speed of light as per normal (yep, normal), then this could theoretically happen. I do however, strongly suggest that the gentleman in question should get a paternity test before paying anything out, as the silly tart that married him knowing he was gonna bugger off into space for 4 years probably slept with someone else 26 years ago and is trying to pull a fast one

[Steve B]

Take flies, time passes very slowly for them so they see you trying to swat them before you've even realised what you're doing.

have you got a source for this?

[Cloudane]

have you got a source for this?

Not a decent one... some TV programme I think, couple of years ago. Didn't intend to state it as if it was fact (given the lack of more reliable source)...

[Steve B]

that sounds incredibly freaky, mind boggling almost