do I have any physics folk on my list?

[jmtorres]

You know the whole time is relative thing where at speeds approaching c, time dilates? I need someone smarter than me who can talk to me about [time in ship]/[time outside ship] rates, factoring in acceleration and deceleration.

Pulling numbers out of my ass, I've been writing a ten-year round-trip jaunt to Alpha Centauri (approx four light-years away, which is to say, eight round-trip), which takes a year from the perspective of the folks on the ship. I figure making any two of those numbers (distance, external time, internal time) jive should be simple, but the third would be determined by those two rather than being something I could pick.

(I'm also vaguely aware of the problem mass increasing as you approach the speed of light, requiring more fuel to accelerate you, increasing your mass... Vaguely, I know of it. I'm kind of ignoring it for now.)

You know what would be cool? An equation relating journey distance, external journey time, internal journey time, and the length of acceleration and deceleration, that I could plug stuff into to my heart's content.

Does anyone want to help me?

Comments

[cedara]

I think kangaruth is doing her physics PHD.

[jmtorres.livejournal.com]

And she's someone I can be all, "I don't know you but do math for me!" at?

[cedara]

Well....... I don't know what's her exact field. I think she's doing particle physics. If she's good at math, I have no idea. But I'm guessing she can give you a hint in the general direction, I hope.