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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fairandknowledgable
ANSWERS: 4
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You would come back later. How much later could be calculated using the relativistic equations.
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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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No, flying at a fraction of the speed of light would mean ten years pass for you, but the rest of the world would pass faster or at noraml rate and your time would slow down (time slows as you approach light speed).
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You'd come back in 2017, but the spacecraft's clocks would be a measuable amount of time behind those on the ground.
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