Twin Paradox ("Contact")

Twin Paradox Portrayal

     In the final minutes of the movie, "Contact", displays Ellie travelling through a wormhole for hours and returning back to Earth quickly as if she had never left. The movie wants to make an argument that the astronomer underwent a twin paradox when the video capture recorded 18 hours of film. However, common misconception in movies about special relativity is when an individual experiences time different than . Relativity Postulate states that laws of physics are the same in every inertial reference frame. This would mean any observer that is not affected by an outside force or acceleration. Many would argue that since there are no absolute time and velocities, observers experience them relatively. Both observers from Earth and space can validly argue that time was running normally around them and that they are at a standstill as everything moves around them.

    This physical portrayal is actually not a paradox since one observer moving through space is not in inertial reference frame (has acceleration). The more velocity an object gains in space, the slower time is affected by it in comparison to an unmoving observer. The observer in space would not notice that time is passing slower since devices and even aging has slowed down; only the observer on Earth would notice this difference. The speed of light is constant no matter the reference frame. If a moving source of light is shone upon a mirror, observers near the light clock would experience the interaction normally. On the other hand, observers at a great distance would view the time light would take to reach the mirror more slowly and at an angle. This is called time dilation.

Time around Dr. Ellie as she was travelling across space should be slowing down in comparison to people on Earth. This is due to time dilation. Since she was the only one accelerating, people on Earth should've been either very old or dead when Dr. Elleanor returned back to Earth as Palmer says. I would have changed the whole landscape and type of technology used as she returned back down the Japanese sea. It was very accurate of her to ask how many years has passed and what the date was. The only time this concept was used correctly was when Hadden, who had terminal cancer, resided in a russian spaceship orbiting Earth in order to slow down his biological activities. Essentially buying more time for his "plan".