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<blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 6707658" data-attributes="member: 13107">Do you mean 'C' to be the speed of light?&nbsp; A ship couldn't actually travel at the speed of light, but, in theory, it could travel close to the speed of light.A ship traveling close to the speed of light will experience time dilation: Clocks on the ship will appear to advance more slowly to an observer which is not in motion (say, someone still on the earth).&nbsp; A clock on a ship moving close to the speed of light will advance quite slowly, and the closer the ships speed gets to C the more slowly the clock will advance.An observer on the ship won't notice any slowdown of the clock; they are moving more slowly, too.&nbsp; However, an observer on the ship will notice other effects: Distances outside of the ship will shrink in the direction of motion of the ship.If the ship travels 100 light years away from the earth, then travels back to the earth, both at close to C the speed of light, then, to an observer on the earth, the trip will appear to take 200 years, and the earth will circle the sun 200 times during the journey.On the other hand, the observer on the ship will notice a much reduced passage of time.&nbsp; How much depends on how long the ship takes to accelerate from a standstill up to C, but in principle the journey can be made arbitrarily short.&nbsp; For the observer on the ship.Thx!TomB</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tomBitonti, post: 6707658, member: 13107"] Do you mean 'C' to be the speed of light? A ship couldn't actually travel at the speed of light, but, in theory, it could travel close to the speed of light. A ship traveling close to the speed of light will experience time dilation: Clocks on the ship will appear to advance more slowly to an observer which is not in motion (say, someone still on the earth). A clock on a ship moving close to the speed of light will advance quite slowly, and the closer the ships speed gets to C the more slowly the clock will advance. An observer on the ship won't notice any slowdown of the clock; they are moving more slowly, too. However, an observer on the ship will notice other effects: Distances outside of the ship will shrink in the direction of motion of the ship. If the ship travels 100 light years away from the earth, then travels back to the earth, both at close to C the speed of light, then, to an observer on the earth, the trip will appear to take 200 years, and the earth will circle the sun 200 times during the journey. On the other hand, the observer on the ship will notice a much reduced passage of time. How much depends on how long the ship takes to accelerate from a standstill up to C, but in principle the journey can be made arbitrarily short. [i]For the observer on the ship.[/i] Thx! TomB [/QUOTE]

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