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RedditOne of the most replayed commercials on television right now is the DirecTV ad with Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Doc, we learn, has forgotten to tell Marty McFly to buy DirecTV in the future. Never mind that the 1955 version of Doc never traveled through time, and therefore wouldn't know about DirecTV. More importantly, how's that whole time machine thing coming? When can we rev up the DeLorean and, like Marty, go to our parent's high school dance with our mother?
Never. But not never, never. Just never for us. First, back to the basics.
A physical time machine—a device available at Wal-Mart, as opposed to a natural wormhole somewhere in the cosmos—is possible. You begin with something square. Next, install mirrors at the corners and send a beam of light, perhaps from a laser, at one of the mirrors. The light will bounce to the second mirror, the third, the fourth and back through this cycle forever.
The force of this constantly circulating light will begin twisting the empty space in the middle. Einstein's theory of relativity dictates that everything happening to space must happen to time, so time begins twisting, too.
To fit a human inside this time machine we need to stack a bunch of these mirrors on top of each other, and add more light beams. Eventually, we'll have a cylinder of circulating light. Once we step inside, we're ready to fly through time.
Rubbish, you say? Well, unlike Doc Brown's second-generation DeLorean, which ran on garbage, the model for our time machine is actually testable. Place subatomic particles—pion or muons—on one side of the light cylinder, and a particle detector on the other side. Then send the particles across. Because these particles all live for the same amount of time—about a millionth of a second—they should all reach the detector at the same instant. Unless, of course, a time loop exists inside our light cylinder.
As soon as this time machine is built, time travel will commence, and continue to exist until someone turns off the machine. Here's the catch: The time machine only allows someone to travel as far back as when the machine was first activated. Since no time traveler has shown up yet—check-out aisle tabloids notwithstanding—no such machine has yet been invented.
These are the boundaries of time travel. If the machine is left on forever, you can travel forward forever, but you can't go back before the machine was built.
Comments
This does not in the slightest sound possible! How is it that such a simple device could allow time travel to commence? How would you travel where you want to go? I would really like to hear your answers regarding these queries I have. George Newman Physics professor University of Belgium
Posted by george Newman on November 24,2007 | 08:31AM
My prediction is that time travel will never happen. I hope that I can come back in time and edit this post. http://www.golfnorwich.com/
Posted by jim on December 7,2007 | 01:26PM
can you build a time machine for me when it is available when will it be available for me i will be hearing from you if you have the time machine for me, jennifer daddea daughtr of frank daddea
Posted by frank daddea on December 14,2007 | 11:42PM
Ok, Here we are in the future.. it's 9/21/2008 and getting ready to turn on the Halo Collider (LHC). Any bets Einstein was wrong? Hit me up, in your future.
Posted by Chris Stuber on September 21,2008 | 11:28AM
I am not a physicist, but time travel looks to me as primising as anti-matter before 1954.
Posted by Rafael Linares on November 4,2008 | 04:25AM