Theory of Relativity and the Quran – Part 2

As we have seen, for an observer on the platform the clock on the train slows down to allow the light to traverse longer distances as it appears for the observer on the platform. This is necessary to ensure that the speed of light is a universal constant as indicated by Maxwell’s equations and is independent of the observer. A second on the fast train is really longer than a second on the platform. Clocks are slower on the fast train that they are on the platform.

The other astonishing thought experiment is that if we imagine ourselves following the muons on the Brookhaven experiment. These muons were running at a speed of 99.94% the speed of light. They were running in a circle and instead of lasting for only 2.2 micro-seconds (the second of an observer on the platform), they lasted for 60 micro-seconds (again the seconds of an observer on the platform). They did 400 laps instead of the 14 laps they are supposed to do if they were standstill on the platform. If we were riding those though, our clock is slower compared to that on the platform. The observer on the platform sees that we lasted 60 micro-seconds, while we only feel 2.2 micro-seconds of the train seconds. In these 2.2 train micro-seconds, we traversed 400 laps instead of the regular 14 laps. However, for us as an observer on the train actually distance shrink by the same ratio that time dilates. We see we have done 400 laps but each lap we feel now is shorter than it is compared to an observer on the platform. So, for the train observer distance shrinks compared to the steady platform and time stays the same. For the platform observer he sees that time on the train or on the muon has slowed but distances have stayed the same. Time and distance are malleable and they depend on the speed of the observer relative to each other and relative to the speed of light.

For the angles traveling at a speed of 0.999999999999998 the speed of light, distances shrink by 50,000*365 times. I am now getting into a tough territory but let us try to imagine and understand. In say 70 years of an angle’s life, they will be equivalent to 70*365*50*1000 of our years. At that speed, an angel will be able to traverse 1.2775 billion light years of our type of distance. To the angel, that distance is actually much smaller. This distance is approximately 10% of the life of the universe estimated at 13.7 billion years of our years. The distance traversed by the angels in the single day is approximately 50,000 light years of our years. We are about 25,000 light years away from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Therefore, 50,000 light years will take us till the opposite point of our orbit in the Milky Way.

That distance shrinking also means that the distance from Houston, TX to Cairo, Egypt for example will be viewed by the angles not as 11000 kilometers, which is how we humans view them, but as 11000/50,000/365 miles or the equivalent of 60 centimeters!

And we continue next time if God wills.