11/05/2025
Imagine leaving Earth and racing toward the Andromeda galaxy at nearly the speed of light. For you, the journey might last just seven years. But when you return, millions of years will have passed on Earth. This astonishing phenomenon, known as time dilation, sits at the heart of Einstein’s theory of special relativity.
Time dilation happens because motion affects the passage of time itself—the faster you move, the slower your clock runs compared to someone standing still. It’s not a theory confined to blackboards; experiments with atomic clocks on fast-moving planes and satellites have proven it. The equation t = t₀ / √(1 - v² / c²) captures this strange reality.
At everyday speeds, the effect is negligible, but at relativistic speeds, it reshapes time entirely. Even the GPS guiding your phone today relies on this principle proof that Einstein’s ideas aren’t just cosmic they’re practical, precise, and real.
Credit: Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity (1905); NASA; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Scientific American.