Experimental testing of time dilation

<p><a href="/facts/Time_dilation/fYj7FYbK">Time dilation</a> as predicted by <a href="/facts/Special_relativity/vsFFc63E">special relativity</a> is often verified by means of particle lifetime experiments. According to special relativity, the rate of a clock C traveling between two synchronized laboratory clocks A and B, as seen by a laboratory observer, is slowed relative to the laboratory clock rates. Since any periodic process can be considered a clock, the lifetimes of unstable particles such as <a href="/facts/Muon/BP2fLVIR">muons</a> must also be affected, so that moving muons should have a longer lifetime than resting ones. A variety of experiments confirming this effect have been performed both in the <a href="/facts/Atmosphere/oUpLaGRF">atmosphere</a> and in <a href="/facts/Particle_accelerator/Pkuc08xC">particle accelerators</a>. Another type of time dilation experiments is the group of <a href="/facts/Ives%E2%80%93Stilwell_experiment/Wmn5Nv3k">Ives–Stilwell experiments</a> measuring the <a href="/facts/Relativistic_Doppler_effect/1IUfmrfI">relativistic Doppler effect</a>.
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Experimental testing of time dilation open-in-new

Experimental testing of time dilation