Gravitational time dilation occurs because objects with a lot of mass create a strong gravitational field. The gravitational field is really a curving of space and time. The stronger the gravity, the more spacetime curves, and the slower time itself proceeds.

Does gravity make time slower?

Public Domain The phenomenon is called "gravitational time dilation." In a nutshell it just means time moves slower as gravity increases. That's why time passes slower for objects closer to the center of the Earth where the gravity is stronger.

Does gravity warp time and space?

Gravity, Einstein asserted, is caused by a warping of space and time—or, in a language we physicists prefer, by a warping of spacetime. The Earth's matter produces the warpage, and that warpage in turn is manifest by gravity's inward tug, toward the Earth's center.