Alper Gezeravcı Aged Less Than Us During His Journey on the ISS

As you know, two weeks ago Alper GezeravcıHe made a trip to the International Space Station.

Gezeravcı is more than what should be on Earth -even if very little- He returned less aged. So what is the reason for this situation?

Gezeravcı returned having aged exactly one twenty-thousandth of a second less.

As humanity, for a very long time concept of time We cannot say that we understand it properly because there is a speed of time flow that we have become accustomed to throughout our history.

We have been trying to understand this flow rate for a long time. If we go back to ancient Greek times, we encounter two men who first discussed this issue. One of these two men we know from their marble busts today Heraclitus, the other one too Parmenides.

Parmenides says in summary: “If you take a ‘moment’ as a cross section, you see that nothing is moving, so movement is an illusion.“

Heraclitus says: “The essential thing is movement, everything moves; the real illusion is immobility. Even though an object seems motionless according to a certain reference, in time is progressing.“

Wow, is it you who said this, just like Parmenides put the first scroll he got his hands on Heraclitus’ head… Just kidding. They progressed their discussions in this manner like master philosophers, but the last point was made by those who came to the beginning of the discussion quite late. Einstein has put.

Einstein introduces a concept called “time dilation”.

Einstein says “Time is relative.” So what does it mean? time is relative? Space-time is not flat, it is curved and the objects on it according to speed and mass It means bending and twisting.

Therefore, depending on our position (the mass of the objects around us) and our speed, We may perceive time differently.

The most frequently given example on this subject is the twin paradox.

One of the 30-year-old twinsIf a person gets into a vehicle traveling at 99% of the speed of light and travels for a year, 7 years will have passed on Earth when he returns.

As the speed increases, this gap also widens. Another alternative is that time slows down because there is a lot of gravity, for example around black holes Time passes much more slowly.

Actually, understanding relativity is not that difficult.

We are waiting for the bus Let’s assume. While we see the bus approaching the stop, the driver also sees us approaching it. When we get on the bus, if we go at the same speed as the car in the next lane, we will see the car as if it is stopped. According to someone at the bus stop, we are both going. The event is the same but the perspective is different. This situation even affected the language.

The fact that this difference is not so much is actually the same as we know today. for human life It is a blessing. Technically, our heads age faster than our feet because they are higher up. But even if we live a few thousand years like the elves of The Lord of the Rings, this difference is not worth a thousandth of a second. However, when we convert distances to cosmic scale, the situation changes.

Gravitational time dilation

In this formula, t is the mass of an object that is very far away from any mass. is the time to experience it. G, gravitational constant; M is the mass of the object; r, distance to the center of the object; C is the speed of light.

According to this formula 1 second for object t is perceived as 0.9999999993 seconds on Earth. This rate is the same on the ISS. If the ISS were at an altitude of 1,021 km instead of 400, this perception would change to 0.9999999994 seconds.

Velocity time dilation

When time dilation is mentioned, velocity time dilation is generally used as an example. In the formula here, delta t’ is the time elapsed for the stationary observer, while delta t is the time elapsed for the moving observer. v represents the speed of motion and C represents the speed of light. 1 second for Earth, according to pilots on the ISS 0.9999999997 It’s like a second.

For example, let’s go to the black hole called Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy:

Distance	Effect
1 light year	time slows down by a factor of 1.00000064.
1 astronomical unit	time slows down by 4%.
1 million km	time slows down 3.6 times.
1,000 km	Time slows down 110 times.
1 kilometer	Time slows down 350 times.
1 meter	time slows down 100,000 times.
0 meters	time stops.

Today Alper Gezeravcı is perhaps a interstellar However, without this knowledge of relativity, we would not be able to use many technologies such as navigation, everything would appear in completely different places every day.

Indeed, when a person tries to understand the universe only from what he sees, He lives in an illusion by deceiving himself, That’s why it is necessary to appreciate science.

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