A spaceship is moving past us at a speed close to the speed of light. What would we conclude about time (clocks) on the spaceship as it goes by?
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According to Einstein's theory, time is not absolute and can vary for observers in different frames of reference, especially when they are moving at significant fractions of the speed of light. Show more…
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We're on Earth with a very accurate clock, and we have put another one, just like it, in a spacecraft headed out to Pluto at 16 km/s. (The New Horizons NASA mission flew past Pluto in July 2015.) When such a spacecraft arrives at Pluto, what can we anticipate about its internal clock as seen from Earth? The clock on the spacecraft would show more elapsed time than the one on Earth. The clock on the spacecraft would agree with the one on Earth. The clock on the spacecraft would be running slower compared to our clock The difference in the two clocks is completely negligible and cannot be measured with current technology.
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