Labs / Physics
Time Dilation
Two identical light clocks tick side by side — one sits still, the other rides a ship. Drag the throttle to push the ship toward the speed of light and watch its photon trace a longer diagonal, so each tick takes the Lorentz factor γ times longer while the ship itself squeezes shorter along its motion.
γ 1.15Δt 1.15 µsL 86.6 m
What to try
- At 0.10 c the two clocks look almost identical — how fast do you have to go before the gap is obvious?
- What speed doubles the tick interval? Is it exactly halfway to c, or much closer?
- Why does the moving photon's slanted path take longer even though light always travels at the same speed c?
- Turn on Twin view and let it run: if the traveller comes home, who is younger, and by how much?
- Watch the length readout — at what γ has the ship shrunk to half its resting length?