How does gravitational time dilation work

Time is measured differently for the twin who moved through space and the twin who stayed on Earth. The Hafele-Keating experiments proved as much, when two atomic clocks were flown on planes traveling in opposite directions. The relative motion actually had a measurable impact and created a time difference between the two clocks.

This has also been confirmed in other physics experiments e. The closer the clock is to the source of gravitation, the slower time passes; the farther away the clock is from gravity, the faster time will pass. We can save the details of that explanation for a future Airlock. A new simulation shows that when the DART mission hits the target asteroid, it could send it spinning and wobbling in a dramatic way.

The equation is:. In this equation t 0 is the proper time for an event, i. The explanation comes down to what scientists call Gravitational Time Dilation. This effect measures the amount of time that has elapsed between two events by observers at different distances from a gravitational mass. In other words, time runs slower wherever gravity is strongest, and this is because gravity curves space-time. Light in this case, speed is always constant and travels at a speed of , miles per second.

A person in strong gravity therefore sees his clock run normal and sees the clock in weak gravity run fast, while the person in weak gravity sees his clock run normal and the other clock run slow. There is nothing wrong with the clocks.

Time itself is slowing down and speeding up because of the relativistic way in which mass warps space and time. Gravitational time dilation occurs whenever there is difference in the strength of gravity, no matter how small that difference is.

The earth has lots of mass, and therefore lots of gravity, so it bends space and time enough to be measured. As a person gets farther away from the surface of the earth — even just a few meters — the gravitational force on that person gets weaker.

We don't notice it much as humans, but even going from the first floor of a building to the second floor of a building moves you away from the earth and therefore slightly weakens the gravitational force that you feel.