Question related to time.

[arkain101]

I was doing some thinking and ended up in a bit of pickle.

 

Here is the example that I was using.

 

If we have a person on earth watching a very large clock (of your choice) that was flying away from earth at a CONSTANT speed (lets say 100,000mph), and the clock is moving directly away from the observer will the following occur?

 

The 'time' it takes for the light (which displays the clock) to reach us will continually increase and increase as it moves further and further away.

 

As it moves away the observer on the earth will conclude that the clock will eventually begin to lag behind in time from his own clock on earth. (lets assume those clocks were set in sync). The clock is not lagging behind or running slower but, what the person sees is the light which hits his eyes that has travelled a long distance through space from the clock. Thus, the image the observer will see of the clock will display that its time will increasingly run slower and slower as the distance increases, and would cause it to display a time that appears to be in the past when compared to the clock on earth it was synced with.

 

However when if the clock was to return and no drastic relativistic effects took place the clocks should end up back in sync.

 

One last thing is when the clock returns, will the clock appear to speed up in time?

 

I woud like to hear some of your thoughts on this.

[Alon]

i feel that your case here, is the same as the case of light from the sun reaching us.

you should add the time the light has to reach us from the huge clock, to the actual time you see, and because the distance increases so will the time delay will increase.

[arkain101]

My assumption is, this will cause 'redshift/blueshift" of any moving object.

 

Even though light remains constant, technically when an object increases distance from you it should fall back in time thus redshift and if it comes towards you it will gain time and make a blueshift.

 

is this correct? and is this how it is currently viewed?

[CraigD]

… when an object increases distance from you it should fall back in time thus redshift and if it comes towards you it will gain time and make a blueshift.

 

is this correct? and is this how it is currently viewed?

Yes. It’s easy to demonstrate using simple geometry, and included in most textbooks that address the subject.

 

It also works for any signal carrier, not just light. Sound exhibits doppler shift. A ship at sea communicating with shore via courier boats, aircraft, or homing pigeons exhibits a change in “frequency of arrival” analogous to light or sound Doppler shift, though, unlike the case with light, it’s possible in such a case to have “infinite Doppler shift” if the ship travels faster away from land than the boats, planes, or pigeons.

[arkain101]

Thanks Craig.

 

Yes its quite understandable, except with light and its constant velocity, makes it just a little stranger to comprehend, which is why I wanted to get some others thoughts on it.