Question

I've heard that time is directly affected by gravity.
any thoughts?

Answer 1

This is part of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. The idea is that there is a 4 dimensional space-time, mass warps this space-time and causes gravity.

Picture a large rubber sheet and place a bowling ball at the center. This will represent the sun and will warp the sheet. Now roll a golf ball, the earth, so it orbits the bowling ball. This, in higher dimensions is how gravity is thought to work, it is not 2 objects sending particles to each other (although it might be...) but rather just a warping of space and time. According to this theory being close to a massive object makes time slow down! This has been proven experimentally and has to be taken into account with GPS satellites.

Answer 2

I see. so lets say you could build a device that generated its own gravitational field, independent from the earth or sun, could it then move through time in its own little time/gravity bubble?

Answer 3

I don't see what you mean by "generate its own gravitational field" Anything with mass generates a gravitational field. You generate a gravitational field! If you are talking about warping the field to do your bidding, we neither have the technology nor the energy required to do that, and sadly, likely never will.

Answer 4

i guess "generate its own field" was a poor choice of words. have you heard of Zero point energy? i believe once we've mastered this technique we WILL have the energy to warp the field to do our bidding. take a look..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjaB-g9s5c&feature=related

Answer 5

I would say time is just an illusion...check this out http://www.ipod.org.uk/reality/reality_mysterious_flow.asp

Answer 6

very nice article! as far as time being an illusion though I'm not so sure. i think time is relative. just because we are stuck experiencing time at the rate that we do, in the direction that we do (past to future) doesn't mean this is the only way to experience time.

Answer 7

I don't really any credibility to John Hutchison. His claims are outlandish and not reproducible. Here are a couple of critical articles on him http://www.skepdic.com/hutchisonhoax.html http://www.sciencepunk.com/2006/10/john-hutchison/

Answer 8

Yes, time is affected by gravity. Research teams have built atomic clocks so precise that when synchronized and then separated by less than a meter (one above the other), they will then report different times. The effect is very small. One Russian cosmonaut who spent 6 months on the Space Station (the record so far), is only 1/50th of a second "out of synch" with his Earth bound compatriots.