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Belligerent_Christ OP t1_iyb7q1k wrote

Reply to comment by CBeisbol in Can someone explain time dilation? by Belligerent_Christ

I've watched a couple. Something isn't clicking

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pompanoJ t1_iyb8czl wrote

Time moves at different rates in different reference frames. Deep in a gravity well, time moves slower.

So yes, if you were in a ship 2 light years from a black hole and were observing people in close orbit around the black hole, they would be moving very slowly. You would be moving very quickly from their point of view. This is not an illusion... time really moves at different rates.

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Belligerent_Christ OP t1_iyb9w3i wrote

That's so fucking weird.... Do we know why? Or is it just itd that way and we know it's that way just stop thinking about it kind of a thing?

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Narsil86 t1_iybe94x wrote

Science is always looking for the reason why something is the way it is. For now we only know that the energy that controls space is the same energy that controls time, so they trade off, the faster you go the less energy there is for time to move. It's why science now uses the term space-time.

"Why" is still technically unanswered, but you can always go another "why" deeper anyway and get a new question, it's what's so fascinating about science!

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Belligerent_Christ OP t1_iybftht wrote

Yeah but space takes it to a whole new level which is what makes it the most interesting thing for me

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