A New Interpretation of the Twin Paradox

The present study has examined the prevalent explanations of the twin paradox and found that they are incorrect because they failed to follow the spirit and the logic of special relativity in their application of the Minkowski space-time diagrams. Applying Minkowski diagrams strictly according to special relativity reveals that the overall effect of the frame changes or accelerations is to return the clock of the travelling twin to the same reading as the other twin’s clock in the earth frame. Therefore, within the framework of special relativity, there is no age difference between the twins when they meet again.