Atomic Clocks

[aduerden]

Can someone explain to me how/why this happens ... If you syncronise two atomic clocks (or any other clocks), place one on a plane and leave one on the ground, then fly the plane around the world the two clocks will show different times?

[woofgang]

I think its a bit of ensteins work. He postulated that at the speed of light,time actually stops, so the faster you move, the slower time (real time, not clock measured time) goes. Sooo if you put very accurate clocks on planes and fly them around the world, the clock plane that has the advantage of the earth's spin as well as its own speed will measure that more time has passed than the other because actual time will have slowed and it will have had more real time to get more ticks in.....I think see Stephen Hawking's "The Universe in a nutshell for more info

[j2buttonsw]

Time is affected (effected?) by gravity.

[Hippy]

This is the second time I've seen this tonight. "affect" as in, "How does that music affect global warming?" is a verb. "Effect" as in "The effect of that music is negligible." is a noun.

Another noun use of "effect" in plural form means belongings or chatels and "affect" in noun form becomes "affectation" now usually meaning a strange and oddly cultivated mannerism.

[j2buttonsw]

That's cleared that up then: Time is effected by gravity.

[ukkid76]

While I might agree with ensteins work and woofgang's explanation but we are not talking about 'time' we are talking about two mechanical objects that measure time 'clocks' and that one worked slower when it went for a ride in an aeroplane whow can that suggest that time itself slowed down???

[woofgang]

thats the point, one doesn't slow, one speeds up as it has time to get more ticks in...this of course is if its the mechnical kind. If its the kind that measures the rate of decay of an atom of radioactive material, then this rate of decay gets slower as actual time slows down so the clock slows down

[woofgang]

ps time is AFFECTED by gravity the EFFECT is to slow or speed up clocks (where's spelly when you want him???)

[j2buttonsw]

LOL

[woofgang]

jbuttonsw, you are a wind up artist

[darth vader]

its hard to get your head around it and it's all to do with relativity (made famous by Einie himself) - if you were to travel in the plane with the clock it will tick once per second exactly, but from the perspective of standing with the clock on the ground, the one in the plane is ticking slower so when you put them together again they show different times: as mentioned before, the faster you go the slower time becomes (but only from others' perspectives) so you appear to slow down in time. Consider as an example you stand looking at a clock - it is ticking and the light is transmitted to you showing you the clock face ticking once per second. Now run away from the clock backwards at the speed of light - ok not realistic but hypothetically if you could do this, the rate you were running away from the clock is the same as the waves of light coming towards you from the clock, and so the clock stops - you have slowed down time (as you sped up towards the speed of light, the clock slowed down)

[darth vader]

it's not an easy subject to explain nor understand - but then we know so very little about it at present!