In reference to Leyzorek's News Anthology- Issue No. 16:
I found the bit that covered the atomic clocks launched in 2014 that are in elliptical orbit, thus dilating time, fascinating. Coincidentally, soon after reading this issue I was sent a poem that was on the same topic. In my own opinion, it is a neat piece of poetry in that explains gravitational time dilation in a unique way.
Gravitational Time Dilation
by Kathrine Lo
says a massive body, body of a large mass
will slow time, clocks here on heavy earth
ticking less often than clocks out in space,
clocks launched in rockets, racing far
when your body feels flung back
against the seat in a car’s acceleration,
it’s really the seat pushing you forward.
And you could never see someone fall
into a black hole, should you ever find
one while hiking or on a blind date,
because time stops at the edge
of the strongest mass contained
in a certain radius, at least in the minds
of those who understand such things,
which I do not. What I do understand
is that nothing is what it seems,
and what feels like pulling might instead
be pushing, and what feels like falling
is something rising beneath you.
Your slow drift from God is really
God running to meet you,
to throw a robe over your shoulders,
to kiss your face and ask
what took you so long to arrive?
Used with permission from the director of Rattle, as well as the author Kathrine Lo.
The original publishing can be found here: https://www.rattle.com/gravitational-time-dilation-by-katherine-lo/
Thank you for your response! I am only a dilettante when it comes to astrophysics, and your post really helped clear up parts that I had questioned myself. I am glad I could share the poem, and yes, Rattle does host some pretty cool poetry contests. You should definitely give a try.
Dear 2000npeace,
Thank you very much for your comment! I agree that gravitational time dilation, as I reported on in LNA issue 16, is a fascinating topic worthy of much more study than I have given it. However, although I enjoyed it very much, I did notice a few questionable statements about time dilation in the poem:
In the first three lines of the first stanza it says, "a massive body, body of a large mass, will slow time, clocks here on heavy earth ticking less often than clocks out in space..." In my understanding, it is not true that time dilation works by causing the clock mechanism to tick more slowly, but rather by stretching time so that the clock has more time to tick.
Also, beginning at the end of the second stanza and continuing through the third stanza, Kathrine Lo says that it is impossible to see someone fall into a black hole because time stops at the event horizon, or at the edge of the Swarzchild radius, the point at which the gravity of a black hole becomes so strong that not even light can escape. That is why a singularity is called a 'black hole,' because no light escapes beyond the event horizon. Thus, it would be possible to see someone fall towards a black hole, but they would disappear after they passed over the event horizon.
On the other hand, they would not reach the event horizon in a recognizable form; imagine the you are falling feet-first towards a black hole. Since gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between two massive bodies, as you approach the black hole, the gravity will increase in strength exponentially and the gravity at your feet will be much stronger than the gravity at your head. Thus, at some point before you reach the event horizon, you will be torn apart by the disproportionate acceleration on different parts of your body in a process aptly termed 'spaghettification.'
Thanks again for your comment and I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Abram Leyzorek
P.S. Thanks for the link to rattle.com; they sponsor some interesting contests that I might like to participate in.