{"id":18238,"date":"2014-09-22T08:01:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T08:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T16:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:40:25","slug":"lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","title":{"rendered":"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein’s ‘time dilation’ effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Researchers used the Experimental Storage Ring, a particle accelerator in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>GSI Helmholtz Centre<\/span>, Germany, to compare a stationary clock with a clock in motion to study the effect. The moving clock was made by accelerating lithium ions to one-third the speed of light, and transitions within lithium ions that were not moving served as the stationary clock. Researchers measured the set of transitions within the lithium as electrons moved between various energy levels, and were able to quantify the time dilation effect precisely. This study has vital implications for Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and physical theories. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more in Nature<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33313,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"new_tags":[],"series":[],"subject":[2873],"class_list":["post-18238","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","subject-physics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T10:40:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/editage-insights-generic-banner.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"446\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\",\"name\":\"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-22T08:01:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-19T10:40:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"width\":656,\"height\":336},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Researchs\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein’s ‘time dilation’ effect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":324,\"caption\":\"Editage Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Editage\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights","description":"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights","og_description":"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","og_site_name":"Editage Insights","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","article_modified_time":"2025-09-19T10:40:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":870,"height":446,"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/editage-insights-generic-banner.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Editage","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect","name":"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein's 'time dilation' effect | Editage Insights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","datePublished":"2014-09-22T08:01:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-19T10:40:25+00:00","description":"Would a human traveling in a high-speed rocket age slower than a human on Earth? An international group of scientists collaborated over 15 years to prove this phenomenon, which Einstein termed \u2018time dilation\u2019 effect in his theory of relativity. Read on to find out more.\u00a0\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","width":656,"height":336},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lithium-ion-experiment-proves-einsteins-time-dilation-effect#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Researchs","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Lithium ion experiment proves Einstein’s ‘time dilation’ effect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","name":"Editage Insights","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization","name":"Editage Insights","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":324,"caption":"Editage Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","https:\/\/x.com\/Editage"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/18238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/18238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"new_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_tags?post=18238"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=18238"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=18238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}