What if time and length are no longer absolutes? You’ve got your digital watch on your wrist and a ruler on your desk. These seem like absolutes: a second and a centrimetre for you must be the same as they are for me, and the same as they are on Alpha Centauri. But maybe they’re not. If I stay on my balcony while you start flying round the galaxy at an incredible speed, and if you could later whiz past my balcony so that we could somehow compare watches and rulers, my theory is your ruler would be smaller and your watch would be going slower than mine. It wouldn't seem different to you but I think the speed would make it different the weird thing is if a person went really fast around the earth and came back they'd have aged differently than someone on Earth and I don't have the math done yet but it would explain some of the strange stuff we observe about light appearing to be the same speed even if we are going closer or farther away from the source of it.

 

If someone wants to help with the math that would be really great because I think of stuff and then don't always know the best math to use when figuring it out.

What if time and length are no longer absolutes?

They were never absolutes. This "crazy theory" is called relativity.

I don't know about the ruler, but the time thing is a pretty standard concept. Correct me if I'm wrong, but time is relative to your position in relation to Earth, in our case. This is applied to everyday things like GPS. They have to recalibrate the clocks on Earth and on the satellite to match up because they go at different rates.

 

Length is a bit different... When you think about it, "centimeters" and whatnot are just man-made preconceptions. A centimeter will always be the same, because it is not actually natural. That said, the ruler itself, when treated as nothing more than a bunch of atoms, is definitely not absolute as far as size goes. That changes with temperature and pressure.

 

Unless I'm missing something, it sounds like your theory is pretty standard.

 

EDIT: iNow summed it up much better than I can haha.

Length is a bit different... When you think about it, "centimeters" and whatnot are just man-made preconceptions. A centimeter will always be the same, because it is not actually natural.

This is wrong, too. Length dilates/contracts just like time, so my ruler and your ruler won't always agree.

Crazy!

They were never absolutes. This "crazy theory" is called relativity.

 

Relative to what?

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Crazy!

 

I suspected my theory wouldn't be taken seriously, it's sad the scientific community can be so closed minded to new ideas.

I suspected my theory wouldn't be taken seriously, it's sad the scientific community can be so closed minded to new ideas.

It's not new. It's relativity. This has already been pointed out.

 

Either look it up or stop trolling, whichever applies.

It's not new. It's relativity. This has already been pointed out.

 

Either look it up or stop trolling, whichever applies.

 

Ah, just some April 1st fun - thought it would be entertaining to propose an actual working theory in PS&S - so of course I had to steal one!

Ah, just some April 1st fun - thought it would be entertaining to propose an actual working theory in PS&S - so of course I had to steal one!

 

and carried off with the flawless execution of a LSD intoxicated walrus with ADHD.

Ah, just some April 1st fun - thought it would be entertaining to propose an actual working theory in PS&S - so of course I had to steal one!

Did nobody tell you that after 1200 noon, April fool jokes are officially trolling?

Did nobody tell you that after 1200 noon, April fool jokes are officially trolling?

 

You must be joking - and it's not yet noon in Hawaii! Well, it was in the spirit of good fun

(and I thought that was just a rule on the science forums, so as long as this is the pseudoscience forums...)

You're banned.

You're banned.

 

How about we call it a difference of opinion between two chief pony wranglers

You're double-banned.

you're double-banned.

 

lol