Hah, I debated saying something about that, but decided that was a separate conversation
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A bit late to the party, but I’ll try anyway!
So, first, speed is distance over time. Miles per second, kilometers per hour, whatever.
Consider a person rocketing by a planet in a little spaceship at a good fraction of the speed of light. To amuse themselves, they’re bouncing a ball between two paddles on opposite walls of their craft. The ball describes a path like:
O--------O
–O----O
-----O
Of course, to a person on a planet they’re blasting past, the path looks different - the ship moves a long way between each bounce, so they see:
O----------------------------------O
-------O------------------O
----------------O
The thing is, both of these are correct from each point of view - from each reference frame. For the shipboard person, the ball moves the width of the ship, and for the planetside person, it covers the distance the ship traveled in the bounce (plus some for the width).
Now, swap the ball for a photon, which always moves at the same speed. The distance the photon travels from the two points of view - the two reference frames - is different, so the time component of the photon’s measured speed must change as well because the photon’s speed remains the same! Each side sees the photon moving at the same speed, despite the difference in distance traversed each pov sees - which means each must also have a different measurement of the time involved!
So, time is compressed on the spaceship relative to the planet - from the ship, the planetside observer is moving very fast, while to the planetside observer, the space pilot is moving in slow motion. The speed of the photon is universal - it’s the distance it travels between bounces, and therefore how long it takes to bounce, that differs between their perspectives.
So I’m not bothered by the inconsistent scale… but why is there a dinosaur peeking through the bottom of the 1889 column?!
5too@lemmy.worldto
Science Memes@mander.xyz•God keeps his finger on the c constant sliderEnglish
2·6 months agoOn the other hand, show me a universe you made, and I’ll be impressed!
5too@lemmy.worldto
Science Memes@mander.xyz•God keeps his finger on the c constant sliderEnglish
1·6 months agoNo mention of an eighth day in that story - we’re still in the “god rested” day!
If Tylenol caused autism, there would be a lot more support for trains in the U.S.
The moon is just a few light-seconds away from earth; that’s why they could have conversations with ground control during the moon landings. Moon will go dark a few seconds after the sun.
Man, that’s bizarre enough I was pretty confident you were just carrying the meme along - but I’m seeing it referenced all over the place!
You might want to Google the blue-ringed octopus…
Wouldn’t any joke from that account be an effing joke?
…I would be very interested in seeing how you describe your hummingbirds!
5too@lemmy.worldto
Asklemmy@lemmy.ml•What life hack is so simple yet so effective, you're shocked more people don't know about it?English
2·2 years agoBut not the stem!
My wife writes it with her left hand, to avoid this very issue!