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by fairandknowledgable on March 21st, 2007

fairandknowledgable

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Take the fastest spaceship we could build in space and fly around the Earth as fast as it would go (I belive scientists say it would go 1/20 or 1/200 the speed of light and you did that for 10 years (say 2007) would you come back to the year 2017 or later

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  • by Quirkie on March 21st, 2007

    Quirkie

    At those speeds, you would come back in the year 2017.

    Set off in 2007 and wait til your watch/calendar says you've been gone for 10 years.

    Neglecting acceleration terms, the elapsed time measured on the spaceship TS is T/sqrt(1+(v/c)^2) where T is the time on the ground.
    10 years = T/sqrt(1+(v/c)^2)
    T = 10 sqrt(1+(v/c)^2)

    if v is 1/20 c
    T = 10 sqrt(1 + 1/400)
    = 10 years + 4.5 days

    if v is 1/200
    T = 10 sqrt(1 + 1/40000)
    = 10 years + 1 hour.

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