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Can someone clear something up for me that I've never understood about the way special relativity is presented?
In descriptions of special relativity, they often compare a clock on Earth and a clock on a ship traveling close to c, and say the clock on the ship ticks slower relative to the clock on Earth. But a clock is a mechanical device; it isn't literally taking a direct measurement of time, it is a machine designed to move at a rate that matches time. So if I take two identical clocks that are synchronized and gain/ lose seconds at the same rate, and put one on a spaceship that travels close to c for a while and then return it to Earth, will the clocks read the same time, or does the clock on the spaceship literally tick slower and will read an "earlier" time?
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I'm not an expert on this, but I think the idea is the clocks tick differently relative to each other.
So, the people on the spaceship see a clock that is going at normal rate. The people on Earth see a clock that is going at normal rate.
However, the people on Earth see a clock on a spaceship that is at a different rate than the one they see on Earth, and vice versa.
When the ship comes back, the clocks are desynchronised even though to each observer they appeared to go at the same rate. However, if the people on Earth were to look at the clock on the ship (when it is traveling), it would appear to be going at a different rate even if the people on the ship see it at a regular rate.
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Read up on the twin paradox. Assume the spaceship is moving at a constant speed. If you are in the spaceship and are looking at the Earth clock, it will appear to tick more slowly. If you are on Earth and looking at the spaceship clock, it will appear to tick more slowly. If you are looking at a clock in your frame of reference, it will appear normal. Do you think that's weird and counter-intuitive? Good, you understand it.
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clock is made of stuff
that stuff pushes other stuff and makes things move
stuff is made of atoms
atoms push each other by means of electric fields
electric fields excert forces by exchanging photons
photons exhibit relativistic time dilation
clocks exhibit relativistic time dilation in the same way because they are made out of photons
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>>8566663
>does the clock on the spaceship literally tick slower and will read an "earlier" time?
yes
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Everyone ITT who said the clock will read an earlier time from the point of the view of the observer from a non-moving frame is a retard.
plot fucking twist, the clock will actually tick faster. For your homework figure out why
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>>8567142
I gotta add that the moving frame is moving towards the non-moving observer for this to happen.
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>>8566663
>Can someone clear something up for me that I've never understood about the way special relativity is presented?
It's a shitty mathematical model that doesn't actually represent what is going on in reality.
Relativity was created as a way to cul-de-sac scientific development.
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