I have been wondering how could aging process differ for a person moving close to velocity of light or for a person close to a very strong gravitational field compared to a person who is in a slow motion. This indicates that molecular reactions happening in our body slows down when you move closer to velocity of light? And if so how is that possible?
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Hi Ranjith, you need to be a lot more specific about what your question is. Yes time slows for someone in a gravitational field as well as someone traveling quickly. There are a lot of details though so you need to be specific about what you're asking. – Brandon Enright Nov 10 '14 at 07:51
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Hi Ranjith. This site isn't well suited to broad questions like yours. You might be interested to look around this site for related questions, for example Is gravitational time dilation different from other forms of time dilation? is related. – John Rennie Nov 10 '14 at 08:06
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Sorry but i couldnt be specific. I just couldnt get my head around to understand how ageing process could slow down due to time dilation. I know this is a broad question. Anyways thanks for posting related questions – Ranjith P Nov 10 '14 at 09:13
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A moving frame's x' and t' is different than a x and t of a stations rest frame. A moving frames x' and t' is actually a linear combination of a stationary frame x and t. This is analogous to changing to a rotated coordinate system x',y',z'. Functions need these new variables substituted in after the rotation is performed. So you get thing like x/3, 2z, etc being put in the functions that remain associated with the rest frame. That's why its possible for reactions to slow down as they are moving.
rockandAir8747
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Time dilation does not mean slowing down of motion. Only the process as it is observed by an observer (that means the observer's measuring of the moving object) is slowed down. The object itself does not realize any difference on itself while moving. Time is dilated for the observers, the proper time of the object remains constant.
By consequence, from the point of view of the observer (and according to the measurements of the observer), molecular reactions happening in our body slow down when we move closer to velocity of light. This is a phenomenon due to the so-called twin paradox.
Moonraker
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Hi, thanks for the explanation. If the slowing down of molecular reactions is only from the point of view of the observer, then why would they both (people in different frames of reference) age at a different pace? – Ranjith P Nov 11 '14 at 08:01
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Both are aging at a different pace. This phenomenon is known under the name twin paradox. The reason is that special relativity tells us that space and time are interdependent, time is depending on velocity. – Moonraker Nov 11 '14 at 12:09