There is no such thing as the past.
2006-12-05 02:46:27
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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According to the Theory of Relativity, only travel at or near the speed of light would enable time travel into the FUTURE, but not the past.
"Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (and, by extension, the General Theory) very explicitly permits a kind of time dilation that would ordinarily be called time travel. The theory holds that, relative to a stationary observer, time appears to pass more slowly for faster-moving bodies: for example, a moving clock will appear to run slow; as a clock approaches the speed of light its hands will appear to nearly stop moving. However, this effect allows "time travel" only toward the future: never backward. It is not typical of science fiction, and there is little doubt surrounding its existence; "time travel" will hereafter refer to travel with some degree of freedom into the past or future." (1)
Several other theories, involving worm holes, "folding time" and other physics fantasies, postulate time travel, say at temperatures below absolute zero, but no one has even come close to proving it, to my knowledge.
"A proposed time-travel machine using a wormhole would (hypothetically) work something like this: A wormhole is created somehow. One end of the wormhole is accelerated to nearly the speed of light, perhaps with an advanced spaceship, and then brought back to the point of origin. Due to time dilation, the accelerated end of the wormhole has now experienced less subjective passage of time than the stationary end.
An object that goes into the stationary end would come out of the other end in the past relative to the time when it enters. One significant limitation of such a time machine is that it is only possible to go as far back in time as the initial creation of the machine; in essence, it is more of a path through time than it is a device that itself moves through time, and it would not allow the technology itself to be moved backwards in time.
This could provide an alternative explanation for Hawking's observation: a time machine will be built someday, but hasn't been built yet, so the tourists from the future can't reach this far back in time." (1)
The only viable method of "time travel" I can see is that which takes place in the human mind, usually via hypnosis, accessing one's memories or (some postulate) previous lives. Again, it's just a theory.
For an interesting (yet quirky) site on time travel, which goes over all the various theories as well as obstacles regarding time travel, visit the second link below.
2006-12-05 10:54:31
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answer #2
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answered by SieglindeDieNibelunge 5
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Currently there's no scientific method that proves it possible, although conceivably of our current perceptions of time adn space: it MIGHT be possible to occur. The only known method of time travel in theory uses the manipulation of intense gravity singularities to accelerate space time locally at a location that doesn't affect your point of origin that you would return to. That translates as if you flew NEAR a black hole (not in) then returned to earth you would have travelled into the future. This is a one way trip however and happens because of the ability to bend time-space through gravity. However, gravity can only speed up or slow the RATe at which an object travels through it's perceived time. Hence, we are always travelling into the future and this method allows somoene to travel through it slower tha nthe rest of us, hence after a day of their time a year has passed for the rest of us. This allows only an irreversible trip into the future but is curently infeasible.
Currently there is no known way of reversing the rate at which an object travels through time. The properties of time as an abstract are not well understodd, we only know it dimensionally corresponds to space but whilst travel through space must occur through either propulsion or being affected by forces via the path of least resistace (eg. gravity) Time seems to require neither for things to travel thorugh it at a near uniform rate at their location. Hence, since we cannot understand how travel through time occurs normally there is no theory for effectively reversing time.
2006-12-05 10:54:08
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answer #3
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answered by jleslie4585 5
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If you're a subatomic particle, it's fairly easy. If you're two subatomic particles, it gets a bit trickier. If you're a bacteria, its already nearly impossible (quantum tunnelling a bacterium would take on the scale of 100 million years). If you're a human being... it might as well be impossible.
2006-12-05 10:48:13
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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It requires that you travel faster than the speed of light.
2006-12-05 10:47:03
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answer #5
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answered by Boilerfan 5
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