Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing a science fair project on time dilation at low speeds. I haven't been able to find a good explanation for what time dilation is and why it is important to everyday life. Are there any good links or do you have a good detailed explanation? Also, what range of speeds would be considered "low-speeds" or "everyday speeds"?

Hi spike3029,

This How Stuff Works article does a decent job of explaining time dilation in regular English, instead of math-ese. The key point is the compare what happens in two different observers frames of reference.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/scienc ... vity10.htm

Time dilation becomes important when objects travel at speeds near the speed of light (e.g., for particles in particle accelerators). But with highly sensitive clocks, people have been able to detect time dilation using airplanes.