Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Ben Luckie on 02/12/2011 02:30:03

Title: Does time travel occur at speeds lower than c?
Post by: Ben Luckie on 02/12/2011 02:30:03

Ben Luckie  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,

instead of trying to go faster then light for time travel etc is it possible to go far slower then c and then step between time?

Is it possible to slow something down in reality by diverting light or dodging light or would that just render the participant invisible?

 Cheers

Ben Luckie

What do you think?

Title: Does time travel occur at speeds lower than c?
Post by: yor_on on 01/12/2011 19:15:28

The smallest physically relevant distance is one Planck length. The smallest physically relevant time measure is one Planck time. Combine those two and you get the smallest 'distance' light can propagate in modern physics, one Planck length in one Planck time.

If you were able to observe such a thing happen you would be 'frozen in time'. No brain activity and no 'life' as I see it as you would watch the smallest instant of 'time' possible. So you can't. And to pass beyond that is a theoretical exercise I will leave to the true believers of 'time travels'.

Because we live in 'SpaceTime' according to Einstein. There everything is a function of each other, time is a function of the room as the room is a function of the time. Take away one of those, that 'arrow of time' for example, and it won't be 'SpaceTime' anymore. We are constricted around what's called 'constants', the closed doors of 'reality'. One is 'c', another is Plank scale.

Title: Does time travel occur at speeds lower than c?
Post by: JP on 01/12/2011 23:42:57

No, you can't jump ahead or back in time no matter how fast you move.  Even if you go faster than the speed of light all you'd (theoretically) be doing was going backwards in time--you wouldn't jump back in time suddenly.

Diverting light doesn't have anything to do with time travel.