according to einstein's laws and nothing can travel at the speed of light but, we can travel at or faster than this speed. time is actually an arbitrary concept based on strain of the human mind trying to place all things in a forward moving linear direction. time is relative however. a star that we see that is 600 light years away has light that is 600 years old. in other words what light we see from said star, is 600 years old. lets assume now that i can travel faster than the speed of light, lets say C^2. this would mean that if i traveled to that star i would be seeing it as it was 600 years ago. using this logic if i traveled to the star as it was 600 years ago and then traveled back, i would be seeing things as they were 1200 years ago.
now realizing that this is only a hypothesis and cannot yet be proven, does anyone agree that this can be used to travel into the past? if i am seeing the light from 1200 years ago does this mean i see people who aren't there?
2007-10-08 03:40:55 · 9 answers · asked by valorandmadness 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I'm afraid you've contradicted yourself in this question - you cannot travel faster than the speed of light.
You also have to remember that Einstein theory was of Relativity and that is the key word here. The faster you travel, the slower time passes relative to how it passes at a slower speed. You cannot, however, travel so fast that time reverses.
In your example, if you travelled at the speed of light, you would get to your star in 600 years - so you would be seeing it in the same way as you would have if you stayed on Earth and waited 600 years for the light to come to you.
If you could travel at twice the speed of light, it would take you 300 years to get there but you will still be seeing it as it is now - all you would be doing is seeing it 300 years earlier than you would do if you had stayed on Earth. Think about the word "relativity" and it all makes sense.
2007-10-08 03:54:09 · answer #1 · answered by the_lipsiot 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The only thing faster than the speed of light is thought and the mysterious unmeasurable psychic energy. I think these are the realms that may provide some glimpses into what the universe is about in our lifetimes. I think that the gateway will come from the areas of science - considered unscientific. I think the universe is a riddle of some sort that can only be seen with the complete unity or mergence of a certain large number of minds and spiritual energy. As far out as that may seem. Just think of the irony. Massive star systems separated by nothingness - black space.
I think experimenting in the mental and psychic energy realms could be an interesting step in space exploration. We would have little to lose, but much to gain. Unless you have tens of thousands of years to explore rocks. A rock is a rock that won't change in Billions of years.
2007-10-11 02:05:27 · answer #2 · answered by allen l 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The phrase "being there" is undefined in physics. Seeing something 1200 light years away only means you can't influence events that happen for at least 1200 years after what you have seen. Whether you interpret that philosophically as these events occurring in parallel to your sense of time is pretty pointless because physics does not assign absolute meaning to these terms.
As far as time travel is concerned, the more interesting question is what makes you intellectually so desperate to dream it up? What would be so bad about time travel being impossible? Mankind seems to be able to survive without it just fine. What do YOU personally need it for?
Just a question to ponder.
2007-10-08 11:10:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
No, we can't travel at or faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. Which is why we can't travel into the past - time moves forward only.
2007-10-08 11:16:35 · answer #4 · answered by eri 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think wormholes are a better bet for travel into the past. Nothing can travel faster than light according to special relativity.
2007-10-08 11:24:53 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, I don't agree this can be used for time travel.
Relativity is not simple at all and you have taken one or two simple statements from relativity and mixed them up all wrong without really understanding the underlying theory or fully appreciating the utter weirdness of relativity in general.
2007-10-08 10:58:41 · answer #6 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As far as time travel goes, you need to check out the subject of time dilation... This is a pretty good website with animations to explain in fairly easy terms an EXTREMELY complex and perplexing reality.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module4_time_dilation.htm
Einstein didn't get his awesome reputation for nothing. This is cool stuff...
2007-10-08 12:54:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
People who can answer this have already been born, and are alive today. We call them nanoenergy engineers. They say that it's possible, but unlikely to happen within 20 years.
2007-10-08 10:54:18 · answer #8 · answered by indy450 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
This is a nonsense question, it surprise me that people waste time answering it.
2007-10-08 13:21:26 · answer #9 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋