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Einstein Pedometer App Measures Relative Time Gain

cylonlover writes "Among other things, Einstein's theory of special relativity says that as an object's velocity increases, time as experienced by the object will slow down when compared to another object traveling at a lower velocity. This means that a 'relatively' short round trip on a space ship traveling at close to the speed of light would see you arrive home having aged less than those back on Earth. While the greater the velocities involved, the greater the effect, the theory applies to all relative movement. Now there's an iPhone app that will let you know just how many extra nanoseconds you've gained by getting moving as opposed to sitting on your rear end."

3 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. I used the extra 300 femtoseconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    To beat you guys to first post. Bah!

  2. Badly named by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's actually a pedantometer.

  3. You LOSE time not gain it. by digiplant · · Score: 5, Informative

    Think of it this way: Two guys have a deadline in an hour. Guy #1 sits at his desk and does nothing. Guy #2 zips around at a high velocity and returns to meet guy #1. Both guys check their watch, guy #1 notes an hour has past, while guy #2 notes that half an hour has past. Although guy #2 has aged less, he actually had less time to work to meet the deadline. In the spirit of the original post, guy #2 has lost time instead of gained it.