Timeline for I'm stranded on an alien planet. How do I measure an earth year without a clock?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
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| Jul 19, 2023 at 23:10 | comment | added | John Meacham | Another way to see it is that when you look at zebulon from earth, it will appear redshifted and time goes slower, while at the same time looking at earth from zebulon, earth time will appear slower. However, importantly, wormhole endpoints obey the same observed dilation, so the other wormhole endpoint, and anything that interscrs wjt it is also slowed to match the observed dilation. So even if from your perspective it looks like it takes a week for an hour to happen when looking through a telescope, from the wormhole endpoints perspective an hour is an hour on both sides. | |
| Jul 19, 2023 at 22:56 | comment | added | John Meacham | It would not be an issue because the gate connects two inertial frames. The relative velocity of the planets don't matter because the symmetry isn't broken by one planet experiencing acceleration while the other doesn't. Remember the twin paradox is resolved because only one twin experiences getting in a ship and feeling the acceleration, the is what breaks symmetry and causes that twin to have the slower clock when they meet up again. Since the planets won't accelerate to or from one anotber you can choose a reference frame to make either slower, so there actually ends up being no dilation. | |
| Mar 22, 2017 at 19:35 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | For crafts orbiting: effect is 0.000000036%, important for GPS, not important if your best methods can get you not even to 5% of the actual value. | |
| Mar 22, 2017 at 19:34 | comment | added | Cem Kalyoncu | Relativistic effects on a habitable planet can easily be ignored. Lorentz factor starts to grow very late. For instance if your planet spins 100 times faster than earth, you will get error rate about 0.5%. The effect is much smaller for gravity. If it doesn't rip you apart, it wont have affect on time. | |
| Sep 29, 2015 at 16:53 | comment | added | Tracy Cramer | @zerodevx, a clock based on quantum entanglement - a most excellent idea! I don't know if it would work across relative time frames but it's certainly interesting to think about. Nice! | |
| Sep 29, 2015 at 8:00 | comment | added | zerodevx | The only device that might work is one yet to be invented - some sort of quantum syncing mechanism, where one half is on Earth, and the other half is with you on that planet Because quantum physics. | |
| Sep 29, 2015 at 7:58 | comment | added | zerodevx | How is this not the accepted answer is beyond me. Tracy is exactly right - it is impossible - at least not with today's technology. Because relativity. Your heartbeat, menstrual cycles, watches et al is useless. What one experiences as 1 minute in the alien planet might not equate to 1 minute on Earth. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 18:16 | history | edited | Tracy Cramer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 14 characters in body
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 19:23 | history | edited | Tracy Cramer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Making the answer shorter and more to the point.
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 17:58 | history | edited | Tracy Cramer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 26 characters in body
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 17:54 | comment | added | Victor Stafusa | It was not clear for me that you were answering that, it looked like a critique about the question that forgot about left time dilation. Your last paragraph tells it, but I missed it anyway, sorry for that, my fault. However, this part of your last comment "you cannot measure an earth year without a clock - or even with a clock for that matter" is perfect, so I recommend you to edit the answer and add it there. | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 17:13 | comment | added | Tracy Cramer | @VictorStafusa, my answer was no, you cannot measure an earth year without a clock - or even with a clock for that matter - for the reason I stated. Why is that not appropriate as an answer? | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 17:04 | comment | added | Victor Stafusa | This is a very important observation, but this should be posted as a comment instead of an answer. | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 16:45 | history | answered | Tracy Cramer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |