Very interesting find, Zman...
Quote from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/hotsciencetwin/:
>>
Atomic clocks are extremely accurate clocks that can measure tiny amounts of
time—billionths of a second. In 1971, scientists used these clocks to
test Einstein's ideas. One atomic clock was set up on the ground, while another
was sent around the world on a jet traveling at 600 mph. At the start, both
clocks showed exactly the same time.
What happened when the clock flown around the world returned to the spot where
the other clock was? As Einstein had predicted in a general way, the clocks no
longer showed the same time—the clock on the jet was behind by a few
billionths of a second. Why such a small difference? Well, 600 mph is fast but
still just the tiniest fraction of the speed of light. To see any significant
differences in time, you'd have to be traveling many millions of miles an hour
faster.
<<
End quote
Such an experiment is rather difficult to comprehend - How can time go faster for you but not for me? It defies all logic and reason. Even with the vast amounts of data that support the theory, I remain skeptical. Such experiments could be rigged, eg. someone could manually set the clock's readings during the flight.
Much of Einstein's Theory of Relativity remains a mystery to me. A lot of it cannot be explained, because we do not yet possess the tools and technological advances necessary. Most of his other theories were correct, such as E=MC², and all of them are very interesting, especially his Theory of Relativity.
I read a very good brief on it* during my science course a while ago. It had to do with the how mass, space, gravity are interlinked and basically described gravity as a "dent" in space, much like what you get if you place a heavy book on a couch cushion. As far as the planets are concerned, they are traveling in a straight line**, but in reality the sun's mass is creating a round dent is space so that they are constantly spinning around it. I don't actually know how much of this theory is correct, but the first part makes sense if you have taken even the most bare-bones physics course***.
*Actually, only a small part of the part that deals with gravity. The Theory is big...
**This is actually true. At any given moment in time ( as in, a screenshot of real life, a single frame of video, kind of moment in time ) any given object's velocity is in fact a straight line ( a LOT like what you do with Vectors ). A basic rule of physics is that an object will continue to travel in a straight line until acted upon by an outside force. In this case, the sun's gravitational pull is that outside force, and it is just strong enough to make the planets travel in circles ( ellipses, technically ) around the sun.
*** See above, "A basic rule of physics is that an object will continue to travel in a straight line until acted upon by an outside force.". I don't know how many physics courses teach this, but my bare-bones one did.