einsteins theory of special relativity in relation to time travel?

Question

could einsteins theroy of special relativity be put into practice with regards to time travel into the future? i have run and rerun this theory and can only get to the same conclusion - if time travel is possible then it is only possible to go back in time and not forwards in time.

im not saying that einstein actually mentions time travel in his theory what i asked was could his theory of special relativity be used in time travel into the future? kindly read the question before answering plz!!

Answer 1

I would disagree that following travelling at close to the speed of light you are in the future upon your return; all that happened is that onyour journey time passed slower relative to the non-lightspeed travellers. Whether this constitutes time travel is debatable, but I don't think that it does. I guess that's the problem with defining time- no one really knows what it is apart from part of the fabric of space.

As to the black hole use; firstly it would not be possible to be accelerated to the speed of light due to the increasing mass problem once relativistic speeds are reached. I did however hear it postulated that if you stopped the rotation of an active supermassive black hole it would be possible to travel back in time- the drawback? You could only travel back to the point at which the black hole's rotation started to slow... not sure how particularly useful or valid that is tho!

Also I believe that tiny particles (eg leptons, mesons, hadrons) have been accelerated to over 99% the speed of light in accelerators such as those at CERN, Fermilab etc. No-one's had a particle disappear on them into the past... Far as I can make out, time is believed to be unidrectional and only its passage can be slowed relative to another observer, this is not time travel as that 'future' is still the 'future' of the non travelling explorer, they haven't existed at that time before.

Answer 2

the theory basically states that there are no absolute and well-defined state of rest, ie even when something looks like it is still it isnt. The universe is expanding and so inferrs a speed and a speed which is actually increasing. Einstien says that the closer to the speed of light you go the slower the relative time to the traveller becomes. With this you could argue that we are all travelling through times faster as the universe continues to expand and accelerate.
Regarding getting there a little faster if you travelled at the speed of light time will move slower to the rest of the universe relative to you and thus you travel into the future, getting back is the hard part!

Answer 3

first of all, that twins paradox thing needs some more thought. If a twin were to leave and then COME BACK, then his twin would be the same age. This is because of the relativity of motion. If one twin leaves on a rocket ship, and the other stays on earth, who's to say that the rocket ship isn't standing still, and the person on the earth is moving? Who is aging faster? Brian Greene does a section of this in his book on String Theory "The Elegant Universe".

Back to the question, yes you can "go into the future", but not into the past. This could be achieved by either approaching the speed of light, or by getting very very close to a massive object, and sitting in it's gravitational field. This is because acceleration is actually just a warping of space-time, which is gravity. To go BACK into time, one would have to go faster than the speed of light, which can't happen.

Now, one thing that I don't know is how quantum physics plays into this. I know that at the quantum level lots of CRAZY things can happen, including the fact that things like our notion of time breaks down. So perhaps a particle could go "back in time", but I think that for massive objects it's not possible.

Answer 4

as far as i'm aware the only theoretical way to go back in time is to use a black hole. Not, as so many others say, going through it which is suicide but to slingshot around its massive gravitational pull and , in theory, break light speed. From the observers point of view you would merely disappear. Time for the participant would then theoreticaly move slower and would effectively mean moving back through time. You are correct in that it does not take you forward.

However the same effect may be possible in the lab using strong lasers to send a particle down a coil at light speed. Now this could mean that you can make particles disappear again to the past. But here is the interesting thing , once such a machine becomes operational it would be possible for scientists to use it to communicate to you FROM the future.

So it is entirely possible then once it is switched on for the first time you will receive a plethora of particles and messages from the future enabling you to make massive forward steps. Indeed the day the machine was switched on will becaome afamous day and from then on scientists may feel the need to pass on contemporary information back in time. This could lead to the famous singularity where technology advances at an exponential rate.

This would of course change the course of history from the senders perspective and they may avoid it completely.

But in a way if we can recieve messages from the future it would be like travelling forward in time, well sort of. What do you reckon.

Answer 5

Nothing that contains matter can travel at the speed of light, in theory the closer an object approaches the speed of light, the slower time passes until it eventually runs backward, going back in time. I do not see where time travel to the future would be possible in this theory without some type or time-space warp through some extreme gravitational force such as is exerted by a black hole.

Answer 6

Yes Chris is absoulate he's is right Now you will get to more reality about space-time , So actually einstein (the great grand physicst my favorite) never said time travel in relativity you see he talked about the twin paradox to explian about the relativity all he wanted to say is that space-time are relative ya i'll explain you see imagine you're going on a car at 30 mph how do you feel (I know you feel happy) there is no consider sensation about space time and now common faster in the speed of 3 X 10^8mps
now you feeel it actually you dont seem considerable change in the length of you're car but the observer(me) see's ur car as a tiny dot (diminished) so small hey now in this speed the time in your clock is slower than the observer (now u understand what einstein says) So how is it possible................. So yes imagine this you in the car in speed of light cover much distance than i do in the stationery or moving system so i say you're time is running slow so yes i hope you've got an idea about the twin paradox now iaint it hey yes of course so talking about time travel i think it will be possible when the humanity(you and me )creates a big light speed car (as we were talking). so how do you like my answer go on keep asking you're asking good questions ya don't for get relativity.

Answer 7

OK i am well briefed on Einsteins special theory in fact i just did a test on it, unfortunately throughout it he does not mention time travel, his theories predict the 1st postulate " ideas about absolute space and time are flaw" this means that the amount of time someone or something experiences in relation to another someone or something is related to the difference in the relative motion e,g speed. this does mean that as the repeatedly used example of the astronaut who travels near to the speed of light when he returns he will be younger than his twin brother who did not go on the said trip. this is time dilation not time travel. his theories in no way support the ideas of time travel whether it be forward or backwards. i hope this makes sense.

Answer 8

WHEW u really got a line of answers for that question and I believe each one is an Einstein.Hey kid Einstein's theory of special relativity has two consequences one of them is simultaneity of time.If an object travels at the speed of light all the events are said to occur at the same time at different places....The theory also states that one cannot travel at a speed greater than that of light.Believe me it's true.Don't believe me huh...U might have learned the chapter but i spend a year on it.Should anyone happen to implement it practically...Lifes gonna be HELL!!!!!Never try it you won't be alive at that speed to understand your own experiment.

Answer 9

According to Einstein: You can't go back - or else you may kill your grandparents and then you yourself cease to exist. We are all going forward in time at the moment but Einstein explained you can slow time down by traveling near the speed of light. The twin's paradox is when one twin stays on earth and the other flies at near the speed of light comes back and sees his twin apparently an old man while the pilot is still a young man.

Answer 10

We all travel forward in time, just by sitting here. Special relativity just says that the rate at which we do it is personal to us, and that others moving with respect to us will disagree about that rate.

It does not say anything about going back in time per se. However, travel backwards in time would violate a number of very important and well established laws of physics, including conservation of mass, conservation of energy and - most importantly - the second law of thermodynamics. Nothing - not even black holes or the big bang - gets to mess with the second law of thermodynamics.