Re: Twin paradox revisited ll

bill says...

On Jul 18, 2:57 am, stevendaryl3...@xxxxxxxxx (Daryl McCullough)
wrote:

Can we stick to the topic as to whether or not the stay at home
physically ages at the faster rate during turn around rather than
introduce mind games?

I'm not playing mind games, I'm trying to explain the
answer to your question. There is no meaning to the
questions "What is the physical rate of aging of the
stay-at-home twin?". But there is a physical meaning
to the question "Given two different trips through
spacetime, what is the proper time for each trip?"

A similar thing happens in the twin paradox. While
the two twins are traveling inertially at constant
velocity, each twin can consider himself to be "at rest"

Although the traveler considers himself to be 'at rest' he has
experienced the force of acceleration as he blasted away from the
planet and now sees the universe rushing past him so it is a purely
solipsist, philosophical attitude on his behalf for him to consider
himself to *be* at rest.

So you're saying that we should take a *vote* to find
out who's really at rest, and the traveler should abide
the outcome of the vote? You're being ridiculous.

To say that the traveler can consider
himself to be rest for the purpose of
performing scientific experiments. The laws
of physics don't care about the distinction
between "being at rest" and "traveling at
a constant velocity".

It's exactly analogous to a white piece of paper.
You can pick any line across the paper and call that
"horizontal". Similarly, you can take any constant-velocity
observer and call him "stationary".

When
the two twins get back together, one twin will have
aged more than the other. In Special Relativity,
the twin that took the inertial (constant velocity)
path ages the most.

So you apparently agree with the decade old posting that the stay at
home twin physically ages at the faster rate ('ages the most') rather
than it is the traveler who ages at the slower rate.

No, I just said that "physically ages at a faster
rate" is a meaningless phrase. What I said was this:
If two travelers travel along different paths that
end up at the same spot and the same time, then the
traveler who took the inertial (constant velocity)
path will have aged the most. This is exactly analogous
to the claim that if I draw two curves on a piece of paper
connecting point A to point B, the straight curve will
have the longest length. It's a geometric effect.

It isn't that the acceleration *causes* the differential
aging,

I did not suggest that it does. It is the traveler's instantaneous
velocity during the period of acceleration that, according to the time
dilation concept, creates a physical change in the rate of operation
of *his* clock causing it to progressively tick over at slower rates

No, that is not correct.

depending on his instantaneous velocity but the stay at home twin does
not, as you suggest, 'age the most' and no diagrams on a *** of
paper will convince me otherwise

Yes, I'm sure that's true.

--
Daryl McCullough
Ithaca, NY

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