The theory of relativity holds significant fascination for me. As a particle approaches the speed of light, 'relativistic effects' become significant. These relativistic effects are immeasurably small for everyday objects, but as a particles speed approaches the speed of light, relativistic effects become measurable. Two such relativistic effects are time dilation and length contraction. If two observers are moving relative to one another, they will get different measurements for the length of a given object or the time that passes between the two observers. At tonight's time trial, I believe I was able to measure time dilation. (jking of course)
I paddled the bow of a stock canoe this week. I started my watch on "go" and I crossed the finish line in 31'20", our timer said 32'07". What? Three, four or even ten seconds could be attributed to *random error*. However, standard watches, yet different times?? Hmm ... Relativistic effects?! We must have been moving very fast! LOL.
My time:
31'44" (I'll take the median)
3.49 miles
173 HR avg
Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun and a good workout!
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