• Question: When do you think time travel will be possible

    Asked by Levi the science guy to Chris, Joanne, Kathryn, Kieran, Sarah on 10 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by Sharon.AD, 893furk27, beckyđź’—.
    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      Great question Levi and Sharon! Into the past, almost most certainly not unfortunately. So no Tardis or DeLorean from Back to the Future. The problem is with time itself. In physics, time is a dimension just like width, length and height and it flows like a river. However travelling into the future is possible, although then there is no way to get back, and this is due to spacetime.

      If you imagine spacetime like a trampoline and you walk onto it, it distorts the trampoline, causing it to stretch. Objects with a large mass, like the Earth, also distort spacetime, and some objects distort it more than others because they have a greater mass. Black holes, because they are so small and dense distort space time to near breaking point. If you parked your space ship close to a black hole for a while, you’d feel time pass the same, but in the area not affected by the black hole time passes quicker. To someone looking at you, it may take you hours or days to raise you hand and say hi!

      The film Interstellar explains it very well in a practical sense. When the team heads towards the black hole, time stays the same for them but is hugely different to someone further away, as spacetime is not stretched as much. This is the basis of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

    • Photo: Sarah Guerin

      Sarah Guerin answered on 11 Nov 2017:

      There is also some interesting experiments being done in quantum physics- where they are trying to study time in the smallest particles in the universe- this could lead to time travel on that tiny tiny scale, but no in big objects or people- the same goes for teleportation.

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