I'm learning about relativity and how going close to the speed of light can distort time, but I have questions/need for confirmation on a few things. After seeing a little video about I thought of some things and came to a few logical conclusions.
Okay. A light clock as seen at http://www.geocities.com/physics_wor...ight_clock.htm
tells time by having two mirrors .5 light second apart. Thus every time a photo originates from one plate, bounces off the far plate, and comes back and hits the close plate, one second has passed. This is used to show how time would become warped when approaching c. So, for example, if there is a clock like this attacked to a ship traveling at .99c... If the plates are perpendicular to the ship, it will register .14 time (every second in stationary space is .14 seconds here). But what if the plates are positioned parallel
to the ship, out in front of it for example? It would take 50 seconds for the photon to move away from the ship and hit the far plate (which is traveling at .99c), and then about .251 seconds to come back if the plates are .5 second c apart at stationary. So according to that clock one second would take 50.251 seconds.
Does this mean that when you are traveling at a velocity near c that time in one direction is different than a time looking in another direction? Many places seem to say that you would interpret a 10 year voyager at .99c as 1.4 years, but why wouldn't you interpret it as 0.02 years?