08. When we get a certain distance from the Earth, do we begin to age differently? Would we age more slowly and be younger in space than we are on Earth? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

It's not distance from Earth but speed that affects the rate that time passes. If we travel very far from the Earth but do it slowly, we will age the same as we would on Earth. If we move very fast (near the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second) then we will age more slowly than the people we left on Earth even if we never get far from home. The fact that the passage of time changes depending on our motion is known as time dilation; it's part of the theory of relativity. Albert Einstein, who wrote the theory down in mathematical terms, noticed 100 years ago (1905) that time, and not just location, is relative to your point of view. If your point of view is moving very fast, then time will move at a different rate than on Earth.

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Answer provided by Luke Keller, Ph.D.

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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