Gravitational time dilation is an element of general relativity and a consequence of special relativity. It is the phenomena of time passing at different rates based on the proximity of a gravitational field.
Time dilation occurs because the speed of light is a constant. The components of speed, distance and time must then deform under certain circumstances.
In October 1971, Hafele and Keating flew four cesium-beam atomic clocks aboard regular commercial flights twice around the world, going first eastward and then westward. The clocks where then compared to the ones at the United States Naval Observatory. The measured results matched the calculated results with a 273 nanosecond difference in the westward flight and a 59 nanosecond difference in the eastward flight.
If you hovered at the edge of a black hole’s event horizon, specifically at 1.000001 times its circumference, for twelve weeks and came back to earth, you would have experienced twelve weeks of time while the earth would have experienced 235 years.
GPS satellites are essentially extremely accurate clocks in space. They broadcast where they are and what time it is and a GPS receiver can trilaterate its position in four dimensions, three space and one time. In order to do this, the GPS clock must be accurate to 20-30 nanoseconds. In order to maintain this accuracy, laws of special and general relativity must be taken into account. Without this compensation, the clocks onboard would run 38 microseconds faster per day. That’s 38,000 nanoseconds. This would cause a GPS system to provide false readings after only two minutes and errors would continue to compound at about 6 miles each day.
Time dilation occurs because the speed of light is a constant. The components of speed, distance and time must then deform under certain circumstances.
In October 1971, Hafele and Keating flew four cesium-beam atomic clocks aboard regular commercial flights twice around the world, going first eastward and then westward. The clocks where then compared to the ones at the United States Naval Observatory. The measured results matched the calculated results with a 273 nanosecond difference in the westward flight and a 59 nanosecond difference in the eastward flight.
If you hovered at the edge of a black hole’s event horizon, specifically at 1.000001 times its circumference, for twelve weeks and came back to earth, you would have experienced twelve weeks of time while the earth would have experienced 235 years.
GPS satellites are essentially extremely accurate clocks in space. They broadcast where they are and what time it is and a GPS receiver can trilaterate its position in four dimensions, three space and one time. In order to do this, the GPS clock must be accurate to 20-30 nanoseconds. In order to maintain this accuracy, laws of special and general relativity must be taken into account. Without this compensation, the clocks onboard would run 38 microseconds faster per day. That’s 38,000 nanoseconds. This would cause a GPS system to provide false readings after only two minutes and errors would continue to compound at about 6 miles each day.
