The role of Time in Interstellar: How relativity played a major character in Nolan's space epic

Science isn't everyone's cup of tea but when it comes to films like Interstellar (2014) (or 2020's Tenet for that matter), Christopher Nolan seems to enjoy experimenting with these scientific teas. What's interesting is when we are watching it, or even writing about it, it can even pique the interest of someone uninterested in science.

Even after over a century of the Theory of Relativity's publishing, it can leave anyone scratching their head. But watch the film; it'll become relatable to at least some extent. Nolan didn't just plant corn on a 500-acre farm; he used the seed of Relativity to grow this plant called Interstellar that we can't simply get enough of.

Time played a major role not just in the film but in the idea it builds upon that existed as early as 1997, courtesy of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne and film producer Lynda Obst. Even Steven Spielberg was attached to the project briefly, but then destiny had planned for Christopher Nolan to helm the director's chair.

How does Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity come into play in Interstellar?

We are very well aware of the events on Miller's Planet that's close to this black hole whose name explains its size, Gargantua. Einstein's theory implies that mass and energy bend the spacetime fabric; this bending is essentially what we call gravity.

A black hole creates a curvature in spacetime and given the size of Gargantua in Interstellar, it does that on a supermassive scale, creating a huge gravitational pull on Miller's Planet. In simple terms, the nearer the crew goes to the black hole, the faster the time passes there.

To make the time dilation simpler, Hans Zimmer's soundtrack Mountains provides the audiences with a clue. Thanks to one Redditor who thought it through and brought the theory to light that sits perfectly with the concept. The user writes,

"Every hour on Miller is about 7 years on Earth" There are 3600 seconds in an hour, and (86400 x 365.25 x 7) or roughly 221,000,000 seconds in 7 years, giving us a conversion factor of 221,000,000/3600 ≈ 61400 seconds which pass on Earth for every second spent on Miller"

During Interstellar's Miller's Planet sequence, we can hear a ticking sound in the background, and with this theory, the user is saying that every tick represents a day passing on Earth.

The more we think about Miller's Planet the more complicated it gets

If the Endurance crew were the Z fighters like Goku or Vegeta, who train in 300-500 times the Earth's gravity, then that would be different. But they weren't. That said, how come they weren't being crushed by the huge gravitational pull?

Again, thanks to another Redditor who answered with a real-life example,

"Miller's world is in a [very big number] G gravitational field, yet the planet is weightless because it's in freefall."

If we assume that our brains are adaptive to different gravitational pulls, that would present another theory in front of us. Considering that, the Endurance crew in Interstellar wouldn't have realized they were under the impact of Gargantua.

To understand that, if we were an entity watching the Endurance crew do the same actions on Earth on one side and Miller's Planet near Gargantua on the other, we would see their actions are likely extremely slower as compared to Earth. In simpler terms, the crew's movement on Miller's Planet would be happening in what we call slow motion.

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Also Read: Will Interstellar 2 ever happen? Possibilities explored