A satellite orbits the earth. Due to it’s speed, special relativity says time should be going slower than if it was on earth for it, but in fact, it goes quicker. Why?

This is the third of three posts on time. We have already discussed The Special Theory of Relativity in the first post, and the concept of space-time in the second one. I would recommend reading them first, for this most may not make much sense if you have not. In true “TheCompBlog” style (a great tech blogger/friend-of-mine), this post is being written whilst on a airplane flight, and just how topical it is! We learnt in the aforementioned posts, that the faster an object move, the slower time runs for it. So up here, in this plane, time for me is moving quicker than for someone standing below me right? Well, there is more to it than that. You see, another of Einstein’s discoveries was that not only is time affected by speed, it is also affected by gravity. How does this come about? well really, it is just applying Special Relativity:

Renewable Energy, Wasting Energy, ‘He’s Got Too Much Energy’ – None Of These Are True. So What Is Energy?

We have all heard of energy. A word used in all sorts of situation. Energy in food, people and objects are all very common things to hear, but what exactly is energy? Well the easiest way to describe energy is through the statement: Energy is the ability to do work. Ok…That doesn’t bring us any closer to knowing what energy actually is, so let me first start of by explaining Work:

Neutrinos going faster than the speed of light? Is it possible and, if it is true, what are the implications?

I was born in the past, I will die in the future and I’m living in the present…So my being born is not longer happening and I haven’t died yet…right?

Firstly I want to apologize for this post being late. My laptop decided to die on me and I am having the write this mainly on my iPod.

If you read the first “The Irregularity of Time” post (which I recommend doing, otherwise some of this will not make sense to you), I said I would be talking about general relativity this week but I realized I had a lot more to talk about in the realms of Special Relativity.

Hey! Before I start this post, I better introduce myself, I’m Theo, and I’m a new writer on this blog along with Ned. Just a word of warning, this post does get quite technical later, but I do think you guys will like it, so please persevere, and enjoy!

I start with a problem for you guys…

Time is the same for anyone and everyone…Isn’t it??

How weird would it be if, when someone ran past you, that time for them would be going slower than it was for you, on your watch it says 12:15, but for them its only 12:10? Its seems ridiculous right? Yeh…but it is totally and utterly possible…Ok, to be honest on that scale it won’t happen, but as soon as you start launching satellites into space, the difference is huge.
You see, time isn’t as constant as we like to think. Of course, if you’re sitting on a park bench with your friend, they won’t suddenly start turning into Gandalf in front of your eyes. It requires certain conditions and the change is measurable. The way we know this is through The Theory of Relativity, which I will be taking two blog posts to explain very briefly. I will warn you, this is a big and complicated subject, I’m only scratching the surface of what relativity is. This is Einstein’s paper on only the first half of it…yes, I know…But please, read on, I think it will really interest you.

Is there such thing as something with no end?

If I’m honest, I’ve never really thought about this very much. I know what you are thinking: “ What is this guy on about? He thinks he can write about maths but he hasn’t even considered what is one of the biggest, literally, subjects in maths?” and for you, I have no answer, It just never seemed me to be that interesting, nothing to prove wrong and calculations to make, infinity is infinity, a never ending number, and as brilliant that is, it has never had a real meaning to me…until yesterday: