So I saw Interstellar a week back and it's peaked my interest in space... again lol. So I decided to bring up this thread in here. So if you aren't familiar with gravitational time dilation, I'll do a very simple explanation and those with more knowledge are def encouraged to post more. (I'm not very knowledgeable so please someone post more, haha) Basically, there is a severe distortion in gravity where it effects time. So if there is a severe gravity distortion, time in that particular area, would go slower than time outside of that distortion. So for instance like in the movie Interstellar, one of the planets had a severe gravitational time dilation, so every hour they were on it, 7 Earth years would pass. I wish I can explain more to where I sound intelligent on the subject, but I brought it up to read what other posters had to say on the subject. So people, thoughts? Comments? Theories? It's such a mind boggling concept, that I can't wrap my mind around it.
Time is related to mass and is effected as relative mass and distance to mass increases/decreases. I remember they did an experiment where they had two scientifically accurate clocks set at the same time. One was placed at the top of a pole, and one was placed at the bottom of the same pole. Over "time" the clocks showed to not be matching each other. that is because the clock at the bottom of the pole was closer to the Earth, and as a result, being more affected by the Earth's mass. So when an astronaut is up in space, he's actually aging slower than we are down on the Earth because he's further away from Earth's mass. That effect increases exponentially as you get further and further away from any large body of mass. To throw out my own theory, I would guess that any people that colonize Jupiter in the future for instance, will be aging much faster relative to how fast we age on Earth just due to the size (read mass) of the planet. Size comparison below: So to be more accurate regarding gravity, I don't think it's really the gravity that's effecting time in the movie (haven't seen the movie yet. Just going off of your description), I think it's probably something to do with mass of which gravity and time are both a byproduct. Those laws start to get all screwy when you start to deal with black holes and such, but that's my general understanding of the relationship of time/gravity/mass. The whole topic is extremely fascinating. Anybody and everybody that's interested in this kind of thing should read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. It's very clear on the subject, and a great read. Probably considered the best into to the topic. Make sure to get the updated version that has the newer discoveries included.
There doesnt need to be any kind of severe (or any breakpoint reallly) where this happens. It always happens. The higher the gravitational field you are experiencing the slower time passes for you (relative to everyone else). Its just the effects are negligible until you compare differences of gravitational fields largely apart. The same thing happens with speed by the way. The faster you are traveling, the slower time moves for you (relative to everyone else). As you hit the speed of light time stops (again for you relative to everyone else). I keep saying relative because from your perspective time would flow normally.
Time is a really strange concept. Spoiler: The Science of Interstellar http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-science-of-Interstellar-fact-or-fiction.html
It is a very mind blowing concept. The way I picture it, if gravitational time dilation existed across a river, the people in it would be moving very slowly. While the people in the dilation, see the people not in it, moving super fast, aging and progressing fast.
