Special Relativity Bloopers
Me: the book I’m reading is talking about this thing called time dilation. I don’t really understand it, but it has something to do with time speeding up for someone moving, and staying the same for someone not moving. Something like that.
Meg: That doesn’t sound real.
Me: Right? I guess as you get closer to the speed of light your perception of time, or actual time, I don’t remember which, becomes different from someone standing still. What’s really weird is that I guess it happens at like any speed - it’s just so tiny we can’t tell the difference.
Meg: I need that for work - like a way to get all my work done faster.
Me: what you need is a rocket that travels some large percentage of the speed of light. Then each morning you can head out for four hours at the speed of light, and then return four hours at the speed of light, and you’ll have worked eight hours and it will have been only like a second here.
Meg:…
Me: Oh wait! Shit. I got that backwards. You’d be gone 8 hours and we’d all have died. It would have been like 100 years. Jesus. Do NOT do what I just said. God - how bad would it have been if you’d have listened to me for light speed travel advice.
