time dilation #newbie

[Eva123#@]

is the movie interstellar correct about Time Dilation

[ajb]

is the movie interstellar correct about Time Dilation

 

 

What does the film say about time dilation?

[Spyman]

Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne was a scientific consultant for the film to ensure the depictions of wormholes and relativity were as accurate as possible. "For the depictions of the wormholes and the black hole," he said, "we discussed how to go about it, and then I worked on the equations that would enable tracing of light rays as they traveled through a wormhole or around a black hole-so what you see is based on Einstein's general relativity equations."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_(film)#Scientific_accuracy

[Eva123#@]

Thank you so much that answered my question

[Maxila]

Thank you so much that answered my question

 

I think it's important to note the only thing experimentally verified is time dilation; the film shows travel backwards in time too. It is proven that a clock (time) can run slower relative to another observer due to gravity and relative motion. There are aspects of GR's mathematics that are not testable (currently and for the foreseeable future) that some some physicists think are out of its domain (like the singularity). In the movie, the physics shown inside the event horizon of the black hole are almost certainly wrong and stretch any applicable mathematics beyond reasonable probability.

[StringJunky]

 

I think it's important to note the only thing experimentally verified is time dilation; the film shows travel backwards in time too. It is proven that a clock (time) can run slower relative to another observer due to gravity and relative motion. There are aspects of GR's mathematics that are not testable (currently and for the foreseeable future) that some some physicists think are out of its domain (like the singularity). In the movie, the physics shown inside the event horizon of the black hole are almost certainly wrong and stretch any applicable mathematics beyond reasonable probability.

Pretty good catch in having Thorne as a consultant though. He co-wrote Gravitation didn't he?

[imatfaal]

Pretty good catch in having Thorne as a consultant though. He co-wrote Gravitation didn't he?

 

Misner Thorne and Wheeler - Yep. I have heard a few scientists talking about movie consultancies - and they all say the same; pays well, great fun, something completely new and interesting, and the producers take very little notice of what you actually recommend. Star Trek I think tried to avoid this by having permanent staffers who created a viable canon of science that was pretty self-consistent and had hard-and-fast rules

[StringJunky]

 

Misner Thorne and Wheeler - Yep. I have heard a few scientists talking about movie consultancies - and they all say the same; pays well, great fun, something completely new and interesting, and the producers take very little notice of what you actually recommend. Star Trek I think tried to avoid this by having permanent staffers who created a viable canon of science that was pretty self-consistent and had hard-and-fast rules

I like how Wheeler has his name last (MTW), even though he was the mentor of the other two. I've only learnt just recently how much of a bigshot he was.

 

Star Trek, and Spock in particular, was my fave tele as a kid.

Edited June 16, 2015 by StringJunky

[Strange]

The movie is in the news:

 

The film Interstellar should be shown in school science lessons, a scientific journal has urged.

They say their call follows a new insight gained into black holes as a result of producing the visual effects for the Hollywood film.

Experts have also confirmed that the portrayal of "wormholes" is scientifically accurate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33173197

[md65536]

"The film Interstellar should be shown in school science lessons, a scientific journal has urged."

 

I finally watched the film based on this comment, and I was really disappointed. I looked up Kip Thorne's book, The Science Of Interstellar, to look for answers. He writes:

 

I suggested to Steven and Lynda two guidelines for the science of Interstellar:

1. Nothing in the film will violate firmly established laws of physics, or our firmly established

knowledge of the universe.

2. Speculations (often wild) about ill-understood physical laws and the universe will spring from

real science, from ideas that at least some “respectable” scientists regard as possible.

In the end my main problem with the film is that it doesn't separate what is predicted by science (eg. time dilation) and what is a wild speculation (wormholes, singularities and the insides of black holes, the "quantum data", "Gravity... can cross the dimensions, including time." Ugh, vomit). If the film is shown in science lessons I think it would require a teacher who can explain what's real and what's far-fetched. I don't think it's worth it to introduce relativity this way, if students think all of the speculative stuff is just as valid. But maybe it's better to "know" too much than too little.

 

 

 

As for the time dilation all of that seems to follow established laws. I think there are errors, eg:

 

 

When Cooper detaches from Brand's ship and falls into the black hole, he's in contact with her and there's no time dilation evident. There should be. He describes passing through the event horizon, and the movie shows that he can no longer transmit information to her by having his radio fade to static. In reality, wouldn't he have become infinitely time dilated from her viewpoint, slowing to a halt along with fading out?

 

 

[Delta1212]

"The film Interstellar should be shown in school science lessons, a scientific journal has urged."

 

I finally watched the film based on this comment, and I was really disappointed. I looked up Kip Thorne's book, The Science Of Interstellar, to look for answers. He writes:

In the end my main problem with the film is that it doesn't separate what is predicted by science (eg. time dilation) and what is a wild speculation (wormholes, singularities and the insides of black holes, the "quantum data", "Gravity... can cross the dimensions, including time." Ugh, vomit). If the film is shown in science lessons I think it would require a teacher who can explain what's real and what's far-fetched. I don't think it's worth it to introduce relativity this way, if students think all of the speculative stuff is just as valid. But maybe it's better to "know" too much than too little.

 

 

 

As for the time dilation all of that seems to follow established laws. I think there are errors, eg:

 

 

When Cooper detaches from Brand's ship and falls into the black hole, he's in contact with her and there's no time dilation evident. There should be. He describes passing through the event horizon, and the movie shows that he can no longer transmit information to her by having his radio fade to static. In reality, wouldn't he have become infinitely time dilated from her viewpoint, slowing to a halt along with fading out?

 

 

I agree with your spoilered point and also that "Gravity can cross the dimensions, including time" was probably the worst line in the entire movie.

 

But then both of those are required for the end of the movie to make sense, so I think they ultimately bowed to the needs of the plot over the science at those points. Similarly, the model they developed of the black hole was further refined to make it more accurate but they stuck with a slightly earlier version because it looked cooler.

 

Overall, still more accurate on the whole than your average summer blockbuster, but I'll admit it's far more impressive if that hasn't been hyped to you a lot before you see it. Go in with low expectations and the accuracy is impressive. Go in expecting strict accuracy and it falls a bit short.

[MigL]

Frankly I think the movie sucked, and disappointed me.

 

After Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy, I expected much better from Nolan.