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Time Dilation Impressively Observed

Tim Thompson

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Tim Thompson
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Dec 2, 2008
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Some very spiffy work out of the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Scientists there have measured the special relativistic time dilation of high precision optical clocks at the impressively slow speed of about 20 miles per hour. They have also used the same high precision clocks to measure the gravitational time dilation of general relativity over a difference in height of just 33 centimeters (13 inches).

Not only does this represent a technological tour-de-force, but yet another hurdle to overcome for those who desire to argue about how wrong Einstein really was (i.e., not very, from the look of it).

  1. NIST Pair of Aluminum Atomic Clocks Reveal Einstein's Relativity at a Personal Scale
  2. NIST Clock Experiment Demonstrates That Your Head is Older Than Your Feet
 
I remember the old days when you need to fly atomic clocks at 500 knots to show time dilation..........
I'm getting old.:drool:
 
Dopes this now mean that they are going to have to redefine the length of a second to take into account the altitude of measurement? I wonder how they are going to transfer that altitude to different points on the planet, taking into account variations in gravity...
 
My only knowledge of time dilation comes from Star Trek.

Does this mean we should expect the Borg in the near future?
 
Mikemcc said:
Dopes this now mean that they are going to have to redefine the length of a second to take into account the altitude of measurement? I wonder how they are going to transfer that altitude to different points on the planet, taking into account variations in gravity...
Click to expand...

No, the definition of a second doesn't change, only its relative duration. It's still
9,192,631,770 ground state transitions of a Caesium atom wherever you measure it.
 
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