Would it be possible ...

[bttf]

This idea came to me at work earlier today and I thought I'd post a topic about it and see what people had to say.

 

Would it be possible to construct a large space station far away from Earth (and any other planets') gravitational pull, so that whoever on-board the station would experience a speed-up of time dilation.

 

This dilation so great, that we could send research teams and engineers on-board these stations to research and produce cutting edge technological achievements, which will pass at a normal pace of time for the researchers, but for us dwellers on Earth, we will receive these newly advanced technologies in half the time (generally speaking)!

 

Is this possible? Practical? When can we start?

 

Thanks

[swansont]

In principle, yes — the effect is there.

 

The utility of such an idea depends, in part, on how big the effect is; gravitational time dilation changes the clock rates by U/c^2. If you calculate the gravitational potential on the earth (and difference it from zero in deep space) you get (in rough numbers) around 7 x 10^-10. That's the fractional difference in frequency between the clocks. The effect of the sun adds another part in 10^10. Let's round up to 10^-9. That's a nanosecond for every second that passes. After a billion seconds (~32 years), you gain an extra second.

 

We don't live deep enough in a potential well for this to matter.

[Endercreeper01]

Gravity is not powerful enough on earth to produce noticeable time dilation effects.

However, if someone was orbiting a black hole, and escaped after a certain time period, they could experience noticeable time dilation effects that would make them receive new technology in less time than someone on earth.

[Orodruin]

Gravity is not powerful enough on earth to produce noticeable time dilation effects.

 

I would say this depends on your definition of noticeable. For everyday experience it is clearly not noticeable, but it is an effect which can be and has been measured (see eg http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5999/1630). The effect would also be quite noticeable if GPS satellites did not correct for it.

[swansont]

Gravity is not powerful enough on earth to produce noticeable time dilation effects.

 

Speak for yourself

 

It's noticeable if you have good clocks.

 

Like this guy

[John Cuthber]

Or a good watch

http://leapsecond.com/pages/atomic-bill/

[J.C.MacSwell]

Or a good watch

http://leapsecond.com/pages/atomic-bill/

I need one of those for when I go jogging. The stop watch I use is simply not accurate enough to measure my...cough...progress

[swansont]

I need one of those for when I go jogging. The stop watch I use is simply not accurate enough to measure my...cough...progress

There is an actual atomic clock wristwatch, sort of. It's not the kind that just synchs up with a radio signal.

http://www.gizmag.com/bathys-hawaii-cesium-133-atomic-watch/29291/

(The chip-scale clock mentioned is cheaper but I don't think it has a display.)

The kickstarter has met its goal, and is open until the end of the week, but the people getting the first run of watches has filled up. Presumably they will sell more after they do these.

[phyti]

This idea came to me at work earlier today and I thought I'd post a topic about it and see what people had to say.

 

Would it be possible to construct a large space station far away from Earth (and any other planets') gravitational pull, so that whoever on-board the station would experience a speed-up of time dilation.

 

This dilation so great, that we could send research teams and engineers on-board these stations to research and produce cutting edge technological achievements, which will pass at a normal pace of time for the researchers, but for us dwellers on Earth, we will receive these newly advanced technologies in half the time (generally speaking)!

 

Is this possible? Practical? When can we start?

 

Thanks

What do you mean by "a speed-up of time dilation"?

[Endercreeper01]

I mean that time dilation on earth is not strong enough such that there would not be large enough effects for the OP's idea to work. If you have atomic clocks, you can observe the difference between time on earth and time in space.

[John Cuthber]

I need one of those for when I go jogging. The stop watch I use is simply not accurate enough to measure my...cough...progress

I use a calendar.