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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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Answers. 6 helpful answers below.

  • 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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  • by Anonymous on February 15th, 2008

    Anonymous

    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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  • by Shaun381 on May 1st, 2007

    Shaun381

    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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  • by Reginald on March 21st, 2007

    Reginald

    You would come back later. How much later could be calculated using the relativistic equations.

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  • by onewizeman1957 on December 5th, 2011

    onewizeman1957

    The ship may come back or burn up
    Your body wouldn't be able to handle the G forces for that amount of time

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  • by naterca on December 5th, 2011

    naterca

    It depends, did you travel for 10 years counted on the spaceship? Or did you travel for 10 years counted by a person on the surface of the earth. Because they would be different. The answer is due to time dilation. Wikipedia it. Also, check out the twin paradox.

    If you counted 10 years from the frame of reference on the space ship. More than 10 years would have passed on Earth. If you counted 10 years from Earth, less than 10 years would have passed on the spaceship.

    For these speeds

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