@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:Michael_M_Cashen.SBDERX@Xerox.ARPA (09/18/85)
From: CASHEN.SBDERX@xerox.arpa
Ref: Questions on Relativity
Is time also relative to size?
Am I correct in thinking that the scaled up speed of an insect
in some instances would be as much as 600mph? If this is so, does that
mean that insects think in a much quicker time frame than larger life
forms, such as humans. Imagine, if you will, that a person had
the ability to grow to an infinite height, ignoring of course the fact
that his body would explode due to increases in pressure over surface
area and other anatomical attributes. Soon that person has out-stripped
the size of the earth and is still growing. At one stage this person
could by simply taking one step, move from the earth to the Moon.
However, at current levels of technology it would take us a minimum of
about a week or two, to reach the same objective.
On reflection, does this mean that although it only takes one step for
our giant to reach the Moon, in what for him would be less than a
second, would his second be our two weeks anyway. Thus, would the
instant of his foot reaching the Moon be that of our space ship landing,
given that both started at the same time?
Is this concept illustrated by the way in which an insect must take
several steps to cover the equivalent distance of a humans step.
However, since an insects steps are so much more faster it may cover
that distance in exactly the same time, less than a second???????
Mike @S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:cef@spice.cs.cmu.edu (09/23/85)
From: Charles.Fineman@spice.cs.cmu.edu As I understand it. Time in a relative universe is RELATIVE to some for of periodic motion (e.g. the swinging of a pendulum or the frequency of light emited from a resonating atom). Since biological clocks are based on metabolism, insects probably do live in a speeded up time frame. Of course this has nothing to do with a time frame in Einstien's sense of the term. ~Charlie