• Question: how does gravitational time dilation effect the growth rate of cells

    Asked by 943mede52 to Paul, Mobeen, Laura, Greg on 16 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Paul O'Mahoney

      Paul O'Mahoney answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Not very much at all on Earth. Time dilation works by making time pass at relatively different speeds depending on where you observe it from. So if you (hypothetically of course!) started growing some cells, and went next to a black hole for a while, the cells would appear to grow very fast from where you are looking, but relative to the cells, they are growing at the same rate and from their point of view, you would be moving really slowly.

      If you have seen Interstellar, this is the same effect that happened when they went down to the water planet.

    • Photo: Greg Melia

      Greg Melia answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Like Paul said, very little. For time dilation to have an effect, you’d need to have the cells moving very fast relative to each other, which isn’t going to happen if your body is still attached to itself an in one piece – which I certainly hope is the case! Perhaps if you dived into a black hole you could get the cells at either end of your body aged differently, but if you were diving into a black hole, the signs of ageing would be the least of your worries!

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