Twin Paradox & Gravity's Effect on Time Explained.
Here's a way of looking at the twin paradox: I'll use myself and a friend as an example. I'm a guy so I'll use a female friend So just replace the twins with myself and this girl. I'll pretend I'm this cool surfer like the silver surfer who rides light waves on his silver surfboard. Just so happens my friend sneezes and this as in any other instance produces an electromagnetic wave. I decide to ride this wave to Alpha Centari. I look back at my friend and she appears not to have aged a bit and appears to be frozen in time. Of course she would seem frozen because all I see of her is the wave I'm riding. It's like watching a movie and I'm stuck between frames. All I see is the current frame the one I'm riding. She looks at me and sees me moving at the speed of light to alpha centari. Since I'm moving at the speed of light though she doesn't see much of me. All she sees is one long extended wave of me traveling there. Once I arrive though I see more waves coming off her and I see her aging normally but as she appeared 4 years ago when I left. To me no time has passed though so there is nothing strange shes the same age she was a moment ago when I left. Traveling the speed of light I seem to have arrived at Alpha Centari instantaneously . However when I turn to go back I view all 4 years worth of vibrations she gave off as departed earth and after that I see the 4 years worth of waves she gives off during the journey back. Since I'm traveling on my own wave back she only sees one wave of me traveling back or a single snapshot. The same snapshot/Frame/Wave that I got onto as I left. When I get back she's aged 8 years while I haven't aged a bit. To me the trip was instantaneous other than the time I spent exploring the moons of Polyphemus. She on the other hand has aged 8 years.
I was thinking it was the acceleration that causes the time dilation and the twin paradox because that seems to be the only difference. Since supposedly there is no difference between the one traveling and the one standing still. They are both traveling away from each other at the same speed and both seem to be standing still to each other. However we both appear to be frozen in time to one another but for different reasons. I appear frozen because I really am frozen. I'm going the speed of light and so my molecules slow down in relation to each other and move more in the direction of the wave I'm riding. She only appears frozen to me though because I'm moving at the same speed as the last image I saw of her. Since she isn't actually frozen though she continues to age. She only appears frozen while I actually am frozen. On the return trip though I see her age rapidly or actually instantaneously 8 years. We can all agree though that I was going the speed of light and that the rapid movement placed me into a sort of suspended animation. During my trip she actually did age 4 years I just don't see it.
Acceleration plays no part I think. What is acceleration anyway? So far as we know there is no way to accelerate other than to accelerate something in the opposite direction. If I travel to alpha centari then I must accelerate something in the opposite direction. There is of course absolutely no difference between myself and the thing I accelerated in the opposite direction. We pushed against each other and we are both accelerating in opposite directions. Well in this case I rode an em wave which sounds cool but its probably inpossible. Usually I would accelerate something in the opposite direction. I actually learned this principle watching a cartoon called superfriends as a kid. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if she had accelerated away at the same speed as I was moving she would be moving away from the earth and would therefore have to accelerate back toward me and we would arrive in the same place at the same age neither of us having aged at all. In a way I wouild have pushed against the earth perhaps and the earth would have moved a small amount ( or a large amount considering how fast I was moving, I might even have changed it's orbit) but perhaps the acceleration would be dispersed over the entire planet so that the earth moves less and it's clocks are slowed down more than usual.
This extreme example may seem to be of no practical use however the same thing happens on a very small scale in real life and does affect how calculations are made.
This also explains why gravity affects time. It's not the acceleration though. It's the fact that light is slowed as it leaves earth and speeds up as it approaches. Supposedly light always travels at the same speed but how can you be sure? Your measurements themselves all depend upon the speed of light. Whats more light is bent by gravity so wouldn't it also change its speed. The very act of bending light is a change to it's velocity. Imagine a black hole. If light can't escape a black hole then the person falling in would see all the light from all time enter but never leave while those on the outside would see someone go in but they would never see him age. In this way he becomes frozen in time and the ones outside to him are sped up to an infinite speed. The tremendous gravity would prevent the atoms from moving in relation to one another. This same principle happens on earth but to a much lesser extent. Light falls faster toward earth and slower away and it is this that causes gravity to slow down time. But wouldn't it balance out that light falls faster down and slower up? Wouldn't the faster falling speed up time an equal amount? The falling faster though would just make it slower also because it distorts it's velocity. The atoms in our body also are slowed by gravity. The greater the gravity the slower the the velocity and if the very clocks are slowed and our body clocks are slowed down then for all intents and purposes we are in a kind of suspended animation. Perhaps this same principle could take place in a magnetic field. You could slow down someones body clock by using em fields to slow down his atoms and molecules. There might be some danger though of damage to your molecules and DNA perhaps causing cancer. Perhaps though in the same way Gravity itself is dangerous to our bodies. What if in space the lack of gravity balances out the Cosmic radiation making space less dangerous than earth despite the radiation.
I was thinking it was the acceleration that causes the time dilation and the twin paradox because that seems to be the only difference. Since supposedly there is no difference between the one traveling and the one standing still. They are both traveling away from each other at the same speed and both seem to be standing still to each other. However we both appear to be frozen in time to one another but for different reasons. I appear frozen because I really am frozen. I'm going the speed of light and so my molecules slow down in relation to each other and move more in the direction of the wave I'm riding. She only appears frozen to me though because I'm moving at the same speed as the last image I saw of her. Since she isn't actually frozen though she continues to age. She only appears frozen while I actually am frozen. On the return trip though I see her age rapidly or actually instantaneously 8 years. We can all agree though that I was going the speed of light and that the rapid movement placed me into a sort of suspended animation. During my trip she actually did age 4 years I just don't see it.
Acceleration plays no part I think. What is acceleration anyway? So far as we know there is no way to accelerate other than to accelerate something in the opposite direction. If I travel to alpha centari then I must accelerate something in the opposite direction. There is of course absolutely no difference between myself and the thing I accelerated in the opposite direction. We pushed against each other and we are both accelerating in opposite directions. Well in this case I rode an em wave which sounds cool but its probably inpossible. Usually I would accelerate something in the opposite direction. I actually learned this principle watching a cartoon called superfriends as a kid. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if she had accelerated away at the same speed as I was moving she would be moving away from the earth and would therefore have to accelerate back toward me and we would arrive in the same place at the same age neither of us having aged at all. In a way I wouild have pushed against the earth perhaps and the earth would have moved a small amount ( or a large amount considering how fast I was moving, I might even have changed it's orbit) but perhaps the acceleration would be dispersed over the entire planet so that the earth moves less and it's clocks are slowed down more than usual.
This extreme example may seem to be of no practical use however the same thing happens on a very small scale in real life and does affect how calculations are made.
This also explains why gravity affects time. It's not the acceleration though. It's the fact that light is slowed as it leaves earth and speeds up as it approaches. Supposedly light always travels at the same speed but how can you be sure? Your measurements themselves all depend upon the speed of light. Whats more light is bent by gravity so wouldn't it also change its speed. The very act of bending light is a change to it's velocity. Imagine a black hole. If light can't escape a black hole then the person falling in would see all the light from all time enter but never leave while those on the outside would see someone go in but they would never see him age. In this way he becomes frozen in time and the ones outside to him are sped up to an infinite speed. The tremendous gravity would prevent the atoms from moving in relation to one another. This same principle happens on earth but to a much lesser extent. Light falls faster toward earth and slower away and it is this that causes gravity to slow down time. But wouldn't it balance out that light falls faster down and slower up? Wouldn't the faster falling speed up time an equal amount? The falling faster though would just make it slower also because it distorts it's velocity. The atoms in our body also are slowed by gravity. The greater the gravity the slower the the velocity and if the very clocks are slowed and our body clocks are slowed down then for all intents and purposes we are in a kind of suspended animation. Perhaps this same principle could take place in a magnetic field. You could slow down someones body clock by using em fields to slow down his atoms and molecules. There might be some danger though of damage to your molecules and DNA perhaps causing cancer. Perhaps though in the same way Gravity itself is dangerous to our bodies. What if in space the lack of gravity balances out the Cosmic radiation making space less dangerous than earth despite the radiation.
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