this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: Why does time slow down for something as it approaches the speed of light but then are suddenly fast when they are the speed of light or faster? (lemmy.wtf)
submitted 2 weeks ago by CraigOhMyEggoAlt@lemmy.wtf to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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This never made any sense to me whatsoever.

I've see all the physicists (Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, etc.) explain this principle but it doesn't make sense. They say that if you were to go to the moon and back at a certain speed near the speed of light, you might return to Earth a thousand years into the future like what happened in Planet of the Apes. But if you were going at the speed of light, you would arrive at the time light takes to arrive there. Why the dip? What is being missed?

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[–] 4am@lemm.ee 8 points 2 weeks ago

It’s not just your perception - your actual atoms slow down in “time”. This is because any movement they make, from their vibration alll the way up through chemical reactions and physical movements, from your metabolism to your thoughts being transmitted through your neurons, will require acceleration towards light speed from their already high speed.

The faster you move through space, time literally moves slower- you sacrifice one for the other, like a ratio.