• Question: is it possible if someone go in space and when they come back people on earth are older?

    Asked by amblack to Chris, Alberto on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Chris Whittle

      Chris Whittle answered on 27 Jun 2013:


      The closer that you travel to the speed of light, the slower time will go.

      Imagine a pair of twins. One of them travels round the solar system at almost the speed of light, while the other stays on Earth. If 40 years pass by on Earth, the twin will come back from his mission to see his twin brother a old man, while he has only aged a few years.

      This is because time slows down when you travel very fast.

    • Photo: Alberto Lapedriza

      Alberto Lapedriza answered on 28 Jun 2013:


      Chris explained it really well. As he said, you´d need to travel very close to the speed of light to slow down the time. But our spaceships travel much slower then the speed of light, so it’s not possible with the current technology.

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