Re: opposite of relativistic time contraction

:: Tim Little
:: Oh yes, the gravitational time dilation due to galactic and
:: supergalactic structures is pretty minimal, probably less than 1 part
:: in 10^8. 

: Ben Crowell <crowell07@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
: I'm not so sure.  When Bryan first posted this, it struck me as
: counterintuitive that the effect could be so big, but it also
: triggered a memory that I'd read about such an effect somewhere not
: too long ago, and that it was indeed counterintuitively large. 

Well, it's pretty much pro****tional to the potential energy difference
between the two locations.  So basically, to get large differences in
rate between two locations, an object dropped from one of the locations
to the other would have to approach lightspeed.  Or put another way, if
somebody in such a sped-up location is sending you messages, they'll be
blue-****fted up the wazoo.  Radio waves become gamma, etc, etc, etc,
depending on the exact factor.

Now conceiving of the universe as a whole, and if it's destined to end
in a big crunch, the the escape velocity from the whole universe
is better than lightspeed.  And there's just about enough dark matter
to make that true.  Ish.  But then there's dark energy.  And so I think
that sort of spoils the whole possibility.  Plus, as we note, things far
away aren't blue ****fted all that much, so as we get farther and farther
away, we're not making progress towards getting faster and faster.

Further, as somebody pointed out, to commute to this remote location and
back would cost you more in time dilation than you reap, so your total
proper time on such a trip would be shorter than if you'd stayed home.

Um.  I'm pretty sure.


Wayne Throop   throopw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
   http://sheol.org/throopw