How Contact (1997) Got the 'Twin Paradox' Wrong
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| The alien-designed machinery which enabled Ellie to travel through space |
The movie is most definitely thought-provoking, but it portrayed the Twin Paradox backwards. Elli traveled extremely fast, it could be guessed that she traveled close to the speed of light. Her journey lasted 18 hours, whereas the time on Earth that passed was merely a second or two.
The resolution to the Twin Paradox is that the twin who traveled at the speed of light and came back to Earth is younger than the twin that stayed on Earth. In simpler terms, the twin who was traveling at the speed of light had an internal clock that was ticking by slower than the twin's on Earth. Therefore, more time would have passed for the twin on Earth than the twin who traveled through space and back.
To correct the movie's mistake regarding the Twin Paradox, the end script would have to be revised. Instead of Ellie's journey lasting 18 hours, and those on Earth only experiencing a second, Ellie's journey should last a short duration of time while those on Earth experience a much longer change in time, hours, maybe even days longer. When Ellie comes back to Earth, the people who stayed there should be wondering where she was for such a long time, when Ellie only experienced an absence of a few minutes.
While you're right about the Twin Paradox and your ending would get the physics right, you took all the drama out of the movie. Now no one will doubt that she went on an extraordinary journey. How could you put some drama back in and still get the physics correct?
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree. The twin paradox , as well as other effects of the theory of relativity, are related only to traveling through space. Let's say by normal movement. Moving objects and (more importantly) accelerating/decelerating objects experience all those effects of the special and general theory of relativity.
ReplyDeleteThis however is not what was shown in the movie and the book on which it is based. The ship travelled through worm holes, across half a galaxy. IT WAS NOT A MOVEMENT, it was exploitation of extremely warped spacetime, more like jumping from one time space point to another one and back. Ellie did not experience any relativistic acceleration, deceleration or long travel with high speeds. In the book it was even described that she was actually returned back not only in space, but also in time. All that is theoretically permitted by the theory of relativity and it does not contradict what we can see in the movie.