Time Runs Faster On Skyscrapers Than Down There - Researchers

© REUTERS / ISSEI KATOA message reading "Together we can all win" is displayed at the Tokyo Skytree after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Tokyo, Japan April 7, 2020
A message reading Together we can all win is displayed at the Tokyo Skytree after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Tokyo, Japan April 7, 2020 - Sputnik International
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The time phenomena can be explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity (GTR), stating that time is dependent on the strength of gravity in the place where it is measured. The farther away from a gravity source the measurement takes place, the weaker is the gravity level.

Time moves faster on the tops of high buildings and skyscrapers, according to a study conducted by the University of Tokyo, cited by the Asahi Shimbun. The university developed high-precision clocks to run an experiment on the observation deck of the towering Tokyo Skytree

The exact difference is four nanoseconds (nanosecond = one-billionth of a second) faster per day, compared to ground level, if time is measured at the altitude of 633 metres. The difference was measured with an atomic lattice clock created by professor at the University of Tokyo, Hidetoshi Katori. According to the study, the clock proved that measuring gravity at different altitudes reveals changes in the pace of time. 

“People use clocks to tell the time, but they become an apparatus to measure time and space, such as the difference in altitude, in line with the theory of relativity,” Katori said.

The experiment at the top of the Tokyo Skytree became possible after Katori succeeding in reducing the size of the atomic clock, from a full room-sized device to something about the size of a household fridge. The high level of accuracy for the time difference confirmation is unprecedented. The professor suggested that the experiment is "a major step" toward a wider introduction of the atomic clock to society.

Previously, scientists also explored the difference between how time passes on GPS satellites and elsewhere in space, and at ground level. Einstein's GTR explains that the flow of the time is dependent on the strength of gravity at the location in which the measurement takes place. 

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