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Aquestionoftiming

Fromoureverydayexperience,theflowoftimeisaconstantthatrelentlesslymovesforwardatthesamepaceforeveryone.Ifyoutella
friendyouwillmeettheminanhour,youcanbothagreeonhowlongthathouris.

Intheearly20thCentury,AlbertEinsteinshookthefoundationsofourunderstandingoftheUniversebysayingtimewasnotaconstant,
fixedquantityandproposingtwotheories:SpecialRelativityandGeneralRelativity.

ITS A LLR E LATIV E

SpecialRelativitytellsusthatmovingclocksrunslowerwithrespecttoastationaryobserver.Thisslowingoftimebecomesmoreobviousas
somethingapproachesthespeedoflight.Satellitesdonottravelanywherenearthespeedoflight,howevertheyaretravellingveryfast
comparedtoanobserverontheground,sotheeffectismeasurable.

GeneralRelativitysaysthatthecloseryouaretoaheavymass,suchasEarth,theslowertimewillmoveforyou.Thismeansthataclockona
satelliteorbitingtheEarthwillrunfasterrelativetooneontheground.

D IR E C TOP P OS ITION

Thesetwotheorieshavelittleconsequenceforourdailylivesaswearenevertravellingatsuchhighspeedswithrespecttoeachotherand
wereallprettymuchthesamedistancefromthecentreoftheEarth.Howeverforthenetworkof24GPSsatellitesorbitingEarth,theeffects
ofbothSpecialandGeneralRelativitybecomenoticeable.

ThetimedifferencesofGPSsatellitesduetorelativityaremeasuredonthescaleofnanosecondsonenanosecondbeingjustonebillionthof
asecondhoweverthedifferenceisenoughtobemeasuredandenoughtomatter.

GPSsatellitestravelatapproximately8,700mph(14,000km/h)withrespecttoEarth.Thismeanstimeruns7,200nanosecondsperday
slowerforasatelliterelativetousonEarthasdescribedbySpecialRelativity.

However,usingGeneralRelativityitispossibletocalculatethattimegoesfasterforaGPSsatelliteby45,900nanosecondsperday,duetothe
satellitebeing19,000kmabovetheEarth(thereforeinweakergravity).Thismeansoveralltimeruns38,700(45,9007,200)nanoseconds
fasterperdayforaGPSsatelliterelativetousstationaryonEarth.

TE LLIN GTH E TIME

GPSsatellitesareconstantlytransmittingsignalswiththeirlocationandthetimethesignalwassent.YourGPSdevicedoesnttransmit
anything,itjustreceivesthesignalssentbyatleastfourdifferentsatellites.

Eventhoughthesesignalstravelatthespeedoflight,ittakesafinitetimeforthesignalstotravelfromsatellitetoreceiver.Byknowingthis
timeandthespeedoflight,itispossibleforyourdevicetocalculatethedistancebetweenitandthefoursatellites.

However,iftheGPSsatellitesdidntcorrectforthetimedifferenceduetorelativity,thenthesignalssenttoyourdevicefromthesatellite
wouldreadafalsetime,yourdevicewouldcalculatethedistancewrongandwouldntknowwhereyouwere.

ATOMIC C LOC K S

AtomicclocksareresponsibleforthemeticuloustimekeepingoftheGPSsatellitesandtheyareaccuratetowithin2nanoseconds.The
atomicclocksonboardGPSsatellitesusetheelementcaesiumandworkbyexposingthecaesiumatomstomicrowaveradiation.Thiscauses
theatomstovibrateattheirresonantfrequencywhichissopredictablewecanuseittotellthetime.

WatchTheGreatRelativityShow,awhistlestoptourofSpecialRelativity

SeeourtoplinksaboutRelativity

Navigateto...

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