Time Dilation: The following article is based on the present knowledge about Time Dilation in Physics.

Time dilation is an actual difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses.

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Lets build a light clock. We place two perfectly reflecting mirrors face to face in a distance of exactly one light microsecond. We send a light pulse so that it goes back and forth between the two mirrors. Every tick of the clock is exactly one microsecond. Now, what we see if we look at our light clock from a frame that is moving relative to the clocks frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion of the light as shown in figure 2. Relative to the second frame the distance that light passes while moving from one mirror to the other, is more than one light microsecond. Since light speed is constant, it would take the light more than one microsecond to go from mirror to mirror. So, while for a man on the clocks frame one microsecond passes every tick of the clock, for the man on the other frame it is a longer time. Or, the man in the other frame sees time pass slower for the man in the clocks frame.

Symmetry requires also that the man on the clocks frame sees time pass slower for the man on the other frame. This is a little hard to perceive. Because we are so used to think of time as absolute, it is much easier for us to accept that for two frames a length measured in each frame looks shorter to the other frame, than accepting that time measured in each frame looks longer in the other frame. We must understand that time is a different thing for every frame. It is not the same thing that looks different from every frame. We can make the following analogy: Two people start walking from the same point facing two different directions with an angle between them as shown in figure 3. They both are walking forward at the same speed. After a while they look aside to see where the other person is. They both see that relative to the direction they walk the other is aligned with a point on their path they have already passed, so they both decide that the other is behind them. This is because forward and backward is a different thing for each one. In just the same way earlier and later are different things for two people that are in motion relative to each other. When they look at time on the other frame, they compare it to their own time. Like the two people that each sees the other behind him, the people on the moving frames both sees the others time pass slower.

Time dilated by matter. If acceleration is equivalent to gravitation, it follows that the predictions of Special Relativity must also be valid for very strong gravitational fields. The curvature of spacetime by matter therefore not only stretches or shrinks distances, depending on their direction with respect to the gravitational field, but also appears to slow down the flow of time. This effect is called gravitational time dilation. In most circumstances, such gravitational time dilation is minuscule and hardly observable, but it can become very significant when spacetime is curved by a massive object, such as a planet.
In a bizarre experiment using the most accurate atomic clocks ever invented, researchers showed that clocks run faster if they are raised by just 12 inches. However, anyone hoping that a lifetime living in a basement is the secret to longevity will be disappointed. The effect is so small that it would add just 90 billionths of a second to a 79 year life span. The extraordinary experiment - published today in the respected journal Science - demonstrates one of the strangest consequences of Einstein's theories of relativity. Einstein's work famously showed that time is relative. In 1907 his General Theory of Relativity showed that clocks run more quickly at higher altitudes because they experience a weaker gravitational force than clocks on the surface of the Earth. The phenomenon - called gravitational time dilation - has been demonstrated by putting atomic clocks on jumbo jets and flying them at high altitudes. Just as Einstein predicted, clocks flown at 30,000 feet run faster than those left behind on the ground. Gravitational time dilation can be seen in global positioning satellites which need to have their clocks regularly adjusted.

It also means that your head ages more quickly than your feet, that people living on the top floor of a tower block age more quickly than those on the first floor - and that time passes more slowly for people living at sea level than it does for those on mountains. The new study - carried out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado measured the effect at a scale of just one foot using the world's best atomic clocks. The clocks keep time based on the "ticking" of a single aluminium ion as it vibrates between two energy states. The clocks are so accurate they lose or gain less than one second every 3.7 billion years. In one experiment, the researchers raised one of the experimental clocks by 12 inches. Sure enough, the higher clock ran at a slightly faster than the lower clock, exactly as predicted,' said a spokesman for the NIST. "The difference is much too small for humans to perceive directly - adding up to approximately 90 billionths of a second over a 79-year lifetime.' The researchers, led by Dr James Chin-Wen Chou, then used the clocks to replicate another of Einstein's famous discoveries - the so-called twin paradox. Just as time flows more quickly for an object under a weak gravitational force, it also passes more slowly as an object moves faster. Einstein showed that if a twin leaves the earth in a rocket travelling at speeds close to the speed of light, when he returns to Earth he will be younger than the sibling left at home. The researchers tweaked the charged atom at the heart of one of their atomic clocks so that it gyrated back and forth at speeds equivalent to several metres per second. They found that the clock ticked at a slightly slower rate than the untouched clock. The researchers say their work doesn't just demonstrate Einstein's Theories of Relativity. They believe comparing atomic clocks could help measure the gravitational field of the Earth