StarMountainKid Posted May 9, 2007 #1 Share Posted May 9, 2007 According to the Special Theory of Relativity, at speeds approaching the speed of light, time dilation comes into effect. The consequences of this are that if your space ship leaves the Earth and travels at 90% the speed of light, the clock on your ship will tick half as fast relative to my clock back on the Earth. If your space journey takes one month according to your clock, two months will have passed for me according to my clock. You will have traveled one month into the future at your arrival back on Earth. A simplified example, but it will do. Now let's say it's 2050 and some billionaire entrepreneur, some future Richard Branson, invents a propulsive system and a space ship that is able to achieve near light-speed. He advertises Flights Into The Future, Tickets Only Ten Million Dollars. You buy your ticket, enter the ship and it accelerates to 90+% the speed of light for say six months ship time. Due to time dilation, during your voyage two hundred years will have elapsed on Earth. When your ship returns it's 2250. What an experience you will have experiencing future Earth! The only drawback is it's a one-way voyage in time. You can never return to the world you knew when you left. What would be the consequences for you, and for the future society trying to accomidate your fellow time-travelers? Would you have the courage to make this journey into an unknown future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyGTS Posted May 9, 2007 #2 Share Posted May 9, 2007 sounds cool an all but like ya said the only draw back is when m 200 years in the future you wont have nothin... and everything would be different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJO Posted May 9, 2007 #3 Share Posted May 9, 2007 First off, 100% impossible in my opinion. Second, I don’t got 10 million dollars to spare, sorry. Lol, but if this were to occur, it would be pretty cool to travel in time. It would probably be a bit confusing at first, a little frightening. You would see your relatives who may have passed away, etc. Pretty interesting to think about. But clearly, our technology at the moment is impossible for time travel. JJO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louie Posted May 9, 2007 #4 Share Posted May 9, 2007 So what about if youre on your 200 year journey and they finally get around to blowing up the earth, where are you gonna come back too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted May 9, 2007 Author #5 Share Posted May 9, 2007 JJO, why do you think it's 100% impossible? I think the technology will be available by 2050 if not sooner, according to present NASA projects developing new propulsive systems for spacecraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorelei Posted May 10, 2007 #6 Share Posted May 10, 2007 I personally would not like to time travel. I have all my family and friends here which I love. My life may not be perfect but, I have more than some people do and I am definitely content with that. I would not want to come back 200 years in the future or however long, to find that everything has changed and all my loved ones are gone. That would be mind blowing and more than likely too much to bare for the normal person. I'm thinking that it would take a mentally and emotionally strong person to be able to do something like this. A normal person would crumble and suffer a mental break down...a shock. No...I am fine right where I am! Have a nice day! Lorelei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma_Acid Posted May 10, 2007 #7 Share Posted May 10, 2007 According to the Special Theory of Relativity, at speeds approaching the speed of light, time dilation comes into effect. First off, 100% impossible in my opinion. Sorry, JJO, but he's right, although a little of the target in terms of the numbers. Basically Einstein stated that as an object moves in relation to another one (ie a car going at 100mph and one going at 2mph), time slows down for the faster one, compared to the slow one, althought their own perception of time is no different. This has been successfully measured, to a small degree, with atomic clocks during space travel. So, a ship does not need to go near the speed of light to slow time down. I'm not going to go into the details, you can look them up online, but it does work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilscuro Posted May 10, 2007 #8 Share Posted May 10, 2007 I agree with Lorelei, my family lives here and now, i can't imagine travelling 200 years into the future, when they would all be dead Nice idea though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma_Acid Posted May 10, 2007 #9 Share Posted May 10, 2007 (edited) my family lives here and now, i can't imagine travelling 200 years into the future, when they would all be dead You've obviously never met my family. (edited for rubissh speelling) Edited May 10, 2007 by Emma_Acid_88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesque Orion Posted May 15, 2007 #10 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Time travell would be a very dangerous thing, it shoudn't be done coz it could alter the universe, our universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted May 15, 2007 Author #11 Share Posted May 15, 2007 While I agree that time travel into the past is porblematic, time travel into the future would only only be troublesome depending on the personality of the traveler. Time travel into the past seems to be not allowed by the physics of our universe. If it were possible somehow, and a traveler went back and changed history, perhaps he would create a new timeline for the universe and his changes would not affect the timeline our universe. In effect, his presence in our past would create a new universe timewise, evolving anew from the moment he changes history. Or, maybe he would not be able to change anything, no matter how hard he tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glorybebe Posted May 15, 2007 #12 Share Posted May 15, 2007 While I agree that time travel into the past is porblematic, time travel into the future would only only be troublesome depending on the personality of the traveler. Time travel into the past seems to be not allowed by the physics of our universe. If it were possible somehow, and a traveler went back and changed history, perhaps he would create a new timeline for the universe and his changes would not affect the timeline our universe. In effect, his presence in our past would create a new universe timewise, evolving anew from the moment he changes history. Or, maybe he would not be able to change anything, no matter how hard he tried. Have you read 'Lightning' by Dean Koontz? It deals with changing history. Quite interesting, either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesque Orion Posted May 15, 2007 #13 Share Posted May 15, 2007 While I agree that time travel into the past is porblematic, time travel into the future would only only be troublesome depending on the personality of the traveler. Time travel into the past seems to be not allowed by the physics of our universe. If it were possible somehow, and a traveler went back and changed history, perhaps he would create a new timeline for the universe and his changes would not affect the timeline our universe. In effect, his presence in our past would create a new universe timewise, evolving anew from the moment he changes history. Or, maybe he would not be able to change anything, no matter how hard he tried. Yeah but you woudnt be able to return the to ther universe you came from... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3LOAD Posted May 16, 2007 #14 Share Posted May 16, 2007 well since time doesnt exist i think it would just SEEM as if the difference existed but in reality when you returned to earth only "6 months" would have gone by since time is a measurment made by mankind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted May 17, 2007 Author #15 Share Posted May 17, 2007 I haven't read the Dean Koontz book but I'll look for it, and yes, you wouldn't be able to return to the universe you came from As far as time not existing, I think there is ample evidence in physics that it does. For instance, there is what's called the arrow of time Time for us always flows into the future, never into the past. This is the psychological arrow of time. The thermodynamic arrow of time is related to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that on average entropy always increases with time. An example is rust. Metal rusts as time elapses, but the rusted metal never un-rusts and returns to a shiny new car. A glass falls off the table breaks into many pieces, but the pieces never come together and jump back onto the table. If there were no such thing as time, these processes would be reversable. In the theories of relativity space and time cannot be seperated. For instance, if you are in a certain place, you must also be there at a certain time, and conversely, when you look at your watch and it tells you a specific time, you must also be in some location in space. If space is considered a real aspect of the universe, time must also be considered just as real. As for time dilation, it has been proven to be true in many experiments. The muon is an unstable elementary particle with specific a half-live of 2.2 millionths of a second They are created in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays. As they travel at very high velocities toward the earth, due to their short lifetime they would be expected to travel only a short distance before they decay (about 1/2km). However, due to the time dilation effect, they are observed to travel to the earth's surface before they decay. Due to time dilation, time for the muon has slowed enough for it to travel a greater distance before it decays. This is an example of proof for the slowing down of the rate of time for moving objects relative to a stationary observer. A Chronon is the supposed quantum particle of time, or smallest unit of time. I'm no expert in all this, of course, just some guy who's curious and likes to think about these things. There are many theories of what time actually is. For an Alien's explanation of time: www.geocities.com/zarkorzerak/index.html Episode: 'Time' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotus Flower Posted May 17, 2007 #16 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Have you read 'Lightning' by Dean Koontz? It deals with changing history. Quite interesting, either way. Now that was one interesting book!!! It was the first Dean Koontz book I ever read and I had to buy more and more, his stories really intrigue me lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzard Posted May 21, 2007 #17 Share Posted May 21, 2007 As exciting as time travel might be there is a problem with the whole concept. The Earth moves its own diameter through space in about six minutes. Going back or forward more then that would put you in space. And if you went further, lets say 300 years or so, well, then our entire solar system wouldnt be were it was when you left, as it rotates around the milky way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kolak Posted June 3, 2007 #18 Share Posted June 3, 2007 (edited) About the topic of this thread, time travel is impossible. Because there is no absolute time. You can go ahead in different time zones by moving into another one that moves slower (travelling near the speed of light or near a very strong source of gravity). But that is not time travel, because it is impossible. Edited June 3, 2007 by Captain Kolak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted June 3, 2007 Author #19 Share Posted June 3, 2007 (edited) In a sense you are right, Captain Kolak. My hypothetical space ship is not traveling into the future, the rate of time on the ship is just ticking slower in its refrence frame than the rate of time elapsing on earth in its refrence frame. This is not real time travel, as you stated. Thanks for your comment. I think true time travel seems to be an impossibility, at least on the macroscopic level in our universe. However, I also think there is still the possibility for real time travel, simply because we don't as yet have a complete understanding of the physics of the universe. Edited June 3, 2007 by StarMountainKid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kolak Posted June 3, 2007 #20 Share Posted June 3, 2007 Hmm... i don't know why but I always ask myself why people believe in time travel if we do not believe in absolute time. All time is, is a measurement. The measuring of a certain amount of vibrations of a certain atom. And it is the same everywere in the universe. Unless you view it from a distance under different conditions. You may think that what I am saying is a bit of topic but it means something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harte Posted June 3, 2007 #21 Share Posted June 3, 2007 You'd have to get way, way closer to c than "90%" for that ratio of time dilation - 6mo=200 years. The pertinant equations, which are surprisingly easy to use, can easily be found online. In the meantime, the mass of your spaceship would be increasing exponentially, similar to the time dilation ratio. (The mass equation is right there on any website that gives you the time dilation one. It's also very easy to use.) You'd have an extremely hard time even approaching the necessary speed for the 2mo=200 year differential due to your immense mass. Maybe if you stayed at it for a year (1 year=200 years) you might be able to do it. But I seriously doubt it. Much more likely you'd end up a couple of days in the future. So on Wednesday, if you can't wait for the next Stargate episode, then this would be an alternative. Harte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted June 4, 2007 Author #22 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Thanks for your reply, Harte. I probably should have been more precise as to the speed of the ship and the difference in time elapsed, but I was mainly trying to get the idea across. For 200 years to have elapsed on earth the ship would have to travel at .9999% c for about 6 months, according to my calculations. And yes the mass of the ship would increase greatly and the energy required would be enormous. Also the acceleration of the ship would have to be kept to 1g which is an acceleration of 9.8ms^2 in order for its occupants to feel comfortable. How long would it take at this rate of acceleration to reach .9999 c ? I don't know off-hand, but perhaps a matter--anti-matter drive would supply the required energy. Well, perhaps some future technology will be developed to make all this possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kolak Posted June 7, 2007 #23 Share Posted June 7, 2007 What about Alcubierre drive? No time dialation whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted June 7, 2007 Author #24 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Nice idea, Captain Kolak. Or, by using a Krasnikov Tube. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnikov_Tube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt1 Posted June 7, 2007 #25 Share Posted June 7, 2007 (edited) Hi there firstly Id like to travel into the future and see what humans have achiveled secondly I think that one day time travel may be possible maybe in the next 20 to 30 years, because scientists are leanring that time is not constant and have proven this in a experiment involving two wrist watches both set to the exact same time 1 person travels around the world once in an airplane crossing 12 time zones. Whe the other person looks at the watches the one that was on the ground was 2 days ahead of the other watch. look at the following website it goes into alot more detail: http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_...ime_Travel.html I hope that this information is of use Edited June 7, 2007 by matt1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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