UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Hi! I've been trying to find the time dilation formula for an object that is accelerating (constant acceleration) but have only found a formula that relates that objects acceleration to another object in uniform motion (on wikipedia) Do you know of another formula that I could use in which I would be able to calculate the time dilation of my accelerating object relative to an object that is at rest (not accelerating)? Or would I just use the given formula and just put the velocity of the object in uniform motion as 0?
Question Date: 2010-04-23
Answer 1:

The moment something starts accelerating, you are violating the assumptions of special relativity, namely, that the reference frames aren't themselves changing. No, the special relativistic equations you are using don't work in this circumstance. In order to solve equations for what happens when something is accelerating, you need general relativity, which cannot be understood quantitatively with high school or lower division college-level mathematics.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use