(June 9, 2011 at 1:22 pm)Darwinian Wrote: However, surely from your position on the ship you would see the Earth clock running quickly so that when you eventually returned to the Earth, you have hardly aged at all whilst your friends and family are much older.
No, everyone sees moving clocks running slowly. To the spaceshipe observer, the Earth clock is moving at 0.5c, so he sees it running slowly.
Of course if he wishes to return to Earth, he can't do it in a frame that's moving away from the Earth! So he has to turn around to come back. It's the turning around that introduces the big age difference between our astronaut and his earthbound friends.
Galileo was a man of science oppressed by the irrational and superstitious. Today, he is used by the irrational and superstitious who claim they are being oppressed by science - Mark Crislip
