Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Twin Paradox

If Ram is in a perfectly non-accelerating frame of reference, or as it is called an inertial frame of reference, it would appear to him that he is stationary in his spaceship while Rahim and Earth are traveling in the opposite direction with the same speed. In that case will Rahim’s time dilate and his ageing be reduced by the same factor? Whose time is dilated…Ram's or Rahim's?

Twin Paradox: “Two twins, Ram and Rahim but not anymore, time has dilated but for which one?”

Relativity

Special theory of relativity says, "at speeds closer to that of light, length contracts, mass increases and time dilates." Imagine twins Ram and Rahim on Earth. Ram decides to travel to the nearest star 4.45 light years away in a space ship at a speed which is 86% of the speed of light, while Rahim decides to stay put in his home on Earth. The round trip for Ram will take (4.45*2)/0.86c = 10.28 years (where c is the speed of light). According to special theory of relativity, for those on Earth the ageing of Ram during his trip will be reduced by a factor ε = 0.5 i.e. 0.5* 10.28 = 5.14 years. This means that Rahim will be 10.28 years older when Ram comes back from his trip which took him just 5.14 years! Twins are not twins anymore, thanks to special theory of relativity.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Dakiya Daak Laya

“…khushi ka pyaam kahin, kahin dardnak laya”, as this song played on my car stereo, I gave in to a bout of nostalgia. I was wondering how many of us write letters anymore! I have not written any in more than a decade. It would be interesting to know when and to whom did you last write a letter?

Ustad Sahab

August 16th passed away unnoticed. It was the death anniversary of a legend. Ten years have passed since the death of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He was 48 when he lost the battle for his life in London. But the music lives on. He has sold more albums than Elvis Presley. Nusrat was one performer who left me wishing I were not an atheist. Someone once said about Nusrat, “Nusrat’s music invites us to eavesdrop on a man communing with his God, ever so eloquently. The deepest part of Nusrat’s magic lies in the fact that he is able to bring our hearts to resonate with the music, so deeply, that we ourselves become full partners in the offering.”…need I say more?