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6 votes

How to explain the time dilation effect non-mathematically (without Lorentz transformation)?

Here is my graphical, non-algebraic motivation which uses the Relativity principle and the Speed-of-Light principle, based on my https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/relativity-on-rotated-graph-...
robphy's user avatar
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4 votes
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The time derivative term in the continuity equation

The example does include the time derivative term. When they say that "the number of people in the building increases" they are saying that $dq/dt > 0$, for example. Maybe it becomes more ...
ummg's user avatar
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4 votes

How to explain the time dilation effect non-mathematically (without Lorentz transformation)?

The simplest way to think about this is to really emphasize that all observers see all light as traveling at the speed of c - as measured from their own position. c is the absolute here. (Just for ...
Al Brown's user avatar
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4 votes
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Equality of variables for small values of time, when the time derivative of the variables are equal to one another

The answer depends on a necessary clarification: does the equation $$\frac{ds}{dt} = \frac{d \theta}{dt}$$ hold for all $t$, or just for a particular value of $t = t_{0}$? If the equations holds for ...
Marius Ladegård Meyer's user avatar
3 votes

How to explain the time dilation effect non-mathematically (without Lorentz transformation)?

A clock is something which produces a series of events spaced equally in time. So here is a clock consisting of two mirrors which are parallel to one another and there is a pulse of light bouncing ...
Farcher's user avatar
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3 votes

Reality of speed and time

the rate at which time passes is the same in both cars. the total duration of time spent traveling is twice as long for the slower car.
niels nielsen's user avatar
3 votes

Time dilation query

I like this question because it contains several common misconceptions about relativity, which, if not dispelled, will hinder progress. Misconception 1: Motion affects the internal mechanism of clock. ...
JEB's user avatar
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2 votes

Time dilation query

The answer is that if you have two events that occur in the same place in one frame, then the time interval between them is always less in that frame than in any other frame in which they occur in ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
  • 24.2k
2 votes

What exists in the world according to the special relativity?

Special relativity really doesn't change the rules in the way you might have thought. Locally, we all are moving along paths through spacetime, so you can still maintain your chess analogy in the ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
  • 24.2k
2 votes

The time derivative term in the continuity equation

Time wasn't mentioned in the example, but it was still implicitly assumed. E.g., in the line Then the continuity equation states that the number of people in the building increases when people enter ...
S.G's user avatar
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2 votes

Questions about E. Minguzzi's article on Synchronization (arXiv:1009.3005)

Thank you for the interest in the paper. Let me mention that this work has not been published so far because soon after I posted it I worked on another version that expanded it while rearranging some ...
Ettore Minguzzi's user avatar
1 vote

Since we observe stars, galaxies, etc in their past - is it correct to say that our present is only present for us but is in the past from afar?

There's nothing complicated about this. Light just takes time to travel. Say you're on the Earth and observe the Sun. You see the Sun as it was 8.3 minutes ago. Similarly an observer on the Sun sees ...
Allure's user avatar
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1 vote

How to explain the time dilation effect non-mathematically (without Lorentz transformation)?

Try this way of thinking about it. In space there are three dimensions, but they don't have absolute directions. There is no universal 'up' direction, for example. Spacetime has four dimensions, and ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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1 vote
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Why is the Accuracy in the measurement of Time so important in GPS?

GPS works by determining the distance between the GPS receiver and a number of GPS satellites (usually at least 4). From these distances (and the known positions of the satellites) the GPS receiver ...
gandalf61's user avatar
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1 vote

Why is the Accuracy in the measurement of Time so important in GPS?

Actually, it is necessary for clocks to be both extremely accurate and precise in order for GPS to work at all. What your handphone is doing by accessing GPS is to ask the satellites what the times on ...
naturallyInconsistent's user avatar

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