Maartenn100 Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) Time is relative. (Einstein) Yet scientists say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. But dependent on different clocks of different observers with a different speed or in a different gravitational field, the duration of time can differ. Isn't that a contradiction? Edited April 30, 2019 by Maartenn100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufofrog Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 15 minutes ago, Maartenn100 said: Time is relative. (Einstein) Yet scientists say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. But dependent on different clocks of different observers with a different speed or in a different gravitational field, the duration of time can differ. Isn't that a contradiction? I do not think Special Relativity would enter into this, since we have no velocity relative to the universe. As far as General Relativity goes, if there was a civilization that was on a planet orbiting close to a black hole (I do not know how that would actually be possible), I think you would in fact deduce that the universe was much younger than 13.8 billion years. In any 'normal' gravitational scenario the effect of gravitational time dilation is negligible. I await a response from one of our resident physic aces to give a better explanation (or possible point out where I am nutz) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 24 minutes ago, Maartenn100 said: Time is relative. (Einstein) Yet scientists say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. But dependent on different clocks of different observers with a different speed or in a different gravitational field, the duration of time can differ. Isn't that a contradiction? Different observers could differ in their calculation of the age of the universe in their frame of reference. But ... 1. Any difference would be smaller than the errors in the estimated age so are not practically relevant. 2. We use "co-moving coordinates" to define the age, not our own frame of reference. If all observers were to convert their measurements to the same coordinate system, then they would agree on the age. 3. As both the relativity of time and the Big Bang model are derived from the same mathematical model it is not possible for them to be in contradiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 ! Moderator Note You already asked this in another thread. The answer has not changed. Do not re-introduce discussion from your locked thread. https://www.scienceforums.net/topic/114537-an-observers-local-clock-and-ruler-determine-the-observation-of-curved-and-expanded-spaces-somewhere-else/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-1050249 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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