The Twin Paradox

One of the craziest theoretical concept in physics is that of the Twin Paradox. The Twin Paradox is rooted in Einstein's theory of general relativity. It relies on a concept called time dilation. Time dilation says that when an observer in is an inertia reference frame (acceleration equal to zero) and another object is in motion relative to it, time will appear to slow down for the person in motion. The Twin Paradox states that if two twins both started measuring time at the same instance and one of the twins moved around at a high speed and came back, the twin that stood still would have experienced more time past then the twin in motion.

In the movie "Contact", Palmer, played by Matthew McConaughey, explains the Twin Paradox perfect but the movie didn't listen to its own script though. They actually did the exact opposite; when Dr. Ellie Arroway travels ear the speed of light and comes back, she ends up experiencing more time than the people on Earth. If it was reality, she would experience a short amount of time while the people would experience a longer amount of time. If I had to fix the script, I would have her be away for the same 18 hours as in the movie, but instead of everyone experiencing no time at all like in the movie, I would have every person be long since removed from that instant having a couple years passed.