Quote Originally Posted by Azure Infinity View Post
Well, anyone here who knows stuff, seems to be spending a lot of time naming off mathematical principles...which doesn't really help someone asking questions that are grounded firmly *prior* to the mathematics. I only mean that less mathematical descriptions might help.

The question about time dilation, which several explanations stated in this thread have been perfectly accurate, is really simple if explained related to the every-day world.

As an example: Yes it's true that me travelling in a rocket at 0.9c will experience time exactly as you would on earth. However if you observe from earth, a giant clock on the outside of my rocket, it would appear that my clock is running slow. Keep in mind that all physical experiments I perform on my rocket will behave exactly as they do on earth.

Another example: Yes it's true that acceleration is the key to the 'paradox'. Accelerating once to 0.9c, decelerating to 0 as I arrive at my destination, again accelerating to 0.9c on the trip back, and once again decelerating to 0, is what choses me as the special reference. I am the one crossing world lines. You will age faster than I will...or I will age slower than you. Each is a perfectly valid statement.

Truth be told, even travelling in your car, accelerating and decelerating, is changing world lines in reference to the loved-ones waiting for you at home. Though in a nearly infinitesimal amount.

In fact, it's been tried. Two caesium beam time-clocks, the most accurate time-keepers known on earth, were calibrated exactly. One was placed on a jet and flown half way around the world. Refuelled, then promptly flown back to the original point. They showed a difference of 3 ten-trillionths of a second in difference, nearly precisely predicted by Einstein's SR. It was the acceleration/deceleration that caused the difference.

I'm new here, I'm not trying to be a stinker, I have a mathematics degree, and a degree in software engineering, but I love the challenge of trying to explain things so that someone with no experience can grasp it. That's all. Cheers!
Welcome!

nicely put!