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As Time Goes By: A Study of Relativistic Time Dilation

CSEF · 2002 Physics & Astronomy

Collin N. Cronkite-Ratcliff · Menlo-Atherton High School, Atherton

Overview

Objectives/Goals Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity predicts that time will dilate at very high speeds. In particular, a rapidly moving clock will "slow down". The objective of this project is to observe this effect and compare it with the predictions of Einstein's Theory. Methods/Materials The "clocks" used in this experiment are rapidly moving K-shorts observed with the SLD detector at the Stanford Linear Collider. Since K-shorts decay rapidly, their average lifetimes can be used as the "ticking rate" of a standard clock. These "clocks" are grouped in velocity bins so that the average ticking rate can be measured versus velocity. Results Time was observed to "slow down" by the factor gamma=Sqrt(1-v^2/c^2), where v is the velocity of the clock and c is the speed of light. The very high clock velocities (up to 0.9998 times the speed of light) available in the data allow large time dilation effects to be seen. Conclusions/Discussion Time dilation is directly observed in this project, and is shown to agree with the prediction of Einstein's special theory of relativity.

Summary statement

This project is a study of time dilation, a relativistic effect in which the ticking rate of a clock (i.e., time itself) is observed to "slow down" as the clock speed approaches the speed of light.

Help received

Data was obtained from the SLD experiment with help from the SLD staff, particularly Drs. David Muller and Ken Baird; my father helped me understand how to analyze the data.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2002 Physics & Astronomy · Entry S1506

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