Time is a part of everything we do, but not easy to comprehend. Nearly everybody has seen a time travel movie or two in his or her life. Almost all of the science-fiction movies are at least a little time-travel based. The last two science-fiction movies that I saw, Sphere and Lost in Space, both had time travel involved with it. We are familiar with three-dimensional space travel. Moving up, down, left, right, forward and backward are easy for us to do or to visualize. Time on the other hand is different. Movement in time is limited to forward. It is asymmetrical and one dimensional. This is called time's arrow. It also is applied to memories. We can't remember what we "did" tomorrow. Cause always precedes effect. (Einre) I propose that time travel is possible. Time travel has many different theories, problems, and paradoxes.

There are many theories on time travel. Most of the theories at least partially use Einstein's work. Einstein's theory of relativity states that at speeds close to the speed of light, color, size, time, shape, mass and other variables change slightly. The constant c represents the speed of light (approximately three hundred million meters per second or one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second). (Lawrence 34-35) The Lorentz factor Sqrt(1-(v/c)²)is multiplied or divided to all formulas where any of the above variables are concerned, i.e.,d²=a²+b²+c². (Preston Time1) An important equation is energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, E=mc². In order to understand time travel the laws of thermodynamics need to be known. The first law is the amount of energy in an enclosed area remains constant. The second is the entropy of any enclosed area is increasing. In other words, the universe is becoming more chaotic.

The Lorentz factor can be observed today. We have taken very accurate clocks up into an SR-71 blackbird, while leaving one on the ground. A pilot moving very fast, lost .0001 of a second! We could currently travel as fast as one-quarter c if we would like. At that speed one would lose .03 of every second. The closer we get to c, the more time slows. Theoretically, an object moving at c would not move forward in time, because the Lorentz factor is zero. It would seem logical that an object moving faster than c would go backward in time. (Einre)

Achieving high speeds is harder than it seems. A massive amount of energy is required. One way to get this energy is to tap it from a black hole. Black holes have massive gravity, so they must have a lot of mass. If one could tap some of that mass for energy and turn it into motion, that would be beneficial. To tap the energy of a black hole, one would need to build a containment device of some sort to prevent the loss of the ship carrying the black hole. (Preston Time4)

To build a black hole containment device, a little black hole knowledge is necessary. A black hole is defined by three characteristics: mass, charge and angular momentum. Mass is weight without gravity. The more mass the better for our purposes. The black hole can be charged because the equations that affect charging are not affected by the Lorentz factor. As members of the electromagnetic spectrum, charges travel at c anyway. Angular momentum is the speed at which the black hole turns multiplied by the mass of the black hole. (Time4)

To build a black hole containment device, one must consider the following conditions. If one can add enough mass to the black hole, then the mass and the angular momentum will increase. If the angular momentum increases enough, then the black hole will turn into a torus (a donut). In the middle of the black hole there will be no net gravitational force because all of the parts of the black hole will pull it to the edge. If we put a rod through the middle then attach some sort of electrical device to the rod and charge the rod opposite to the charge of the black hole (which is usually positive), then the black hole will be attracted to the rod and the rod will be able to control the gravitational field as long as the rod can maintain a current. (Time4) Once that one has a black hole containment device then he needs to know how to use it.

The mechanics of how to channel the energy from a black hole once it has been contained have not yet been defined. Roger Penrose developed a rotational vortex theory. In his theory, energy can be gained by taking matter from the black hole and converting it into energy. Higgs Boson has a theory of decreasing mass. If one uses Hawking's radiation constant, one would be able to harness the radiation from the black hole and channel it into a converter to gain energy apparently without end. (Time4) The radiation will end if one waits long enough. The mass inside the black hole is converted to photons and other particles that travel at the speed of light. After all the mass of the black hole is used, the black hole will collapse. If the black hole is still on the ship, then the ship will be destroyed. Not to worry though, the average life span of a black hole, that is not taking in mass, is approximately ten thousand years.

If one can channel enough energy to accelerate a near infinite mass (force is equal to mass times acceleration), then one will skip the speed of light and travel faster than the speed of light, allowing time travel to occur. Any object that could contain a black hole would be more powerful than the Star Wars Death Star. (Time4)

Wormholes possibly could be used to travel in time. Einstein has proven that space is "curved." If one can imagine that all of space is squashed into a sheet of paper and the paper is folded or curved so that a pencil can pierce both parts of the paper, then one has visualized "curved space." The pencil acts as a wormhole connecting two parts of space. We actually live in four- dimensional space-time. It's not just space that is curved, time is curved as well. That does not change the wormhole. There is simply an additional dimension to warp. If one pictures the four dimensional space-time graph in three dimensions (represented here with two dimensions), then it seems logical that one could travel through time and space with a wormhole. If the paper, which represents space-time, is pulled, then the "wormhole" will move through time. An unstable wormhole will have one side move until both sides of the wormhole meet, and the wormhole will collapse or start spinning through space. (Lawrence 47-52)

If one takes a look at the vectors that govern time and the magnitudes of each vector, then one could deduce that the two different sides of the wormhole are moving at different speeds through time. In other words, clocks tick at different rates on different sides of the wormhole. (Lawrence 47-52)

Through anti-matter, one could possibly travel through time. Anti-matter is the opposite of normal matter. It can be created, found, or collected. It travels backward through time, which is why we want it. When matter and anti-matter collide, an explosion occurs, and both the matter and anti-matter are converted to energy. By creating an inverse explosion, anti-matter and matter are created but the anti-matter is hard to collect, partly because it moves backward through time. Anti-matter is generated in large quantities in the sun. A portion of the anti-matter created reaches the earth, but there is not enough to do anything with, unless you have a lot of time to gather anti-matter. The galactic core of some galaxies is producing anti-matter. It would be easy and efficient to collect it, if we were there. (Einre)

Another theory involves chronoton particles. Protons, neutrons and electrons take up less than .001% of the space in a molecule. We don't know what takes up the rest of the space. The "missing mass" equation says that we have only found less than 1% of all the mass that should be in the universe. There is some more mass somewhere--in matter, in a black hole, or that has traveled through time into the future. If mass exists in matter, it is possible that the mass is chronoton particles. The object's location in time location will change if the chronoton particles change (spin, average distance and other attributes). Objects that are not affected by chronoton particles or "time's arrow" are able to affect objects that are affected by chronoton particles and chronoton particles themselves. (Behr)

Some of the theories that could govern how time travel could work have been presented. However, there are problems that occur with the possibilities of time travel.

Time travel has many intricacies that most people don't understand, but need to be explained. Time travel may be impossible due to one of three things: non-unitary evolution, energy inflation, and incomplete normalization of vacuum states. (Creighton) If the universe did not evolve naturally, if too many black holes exist and matter is converted to energy too fast or if the stars were not created in the methods previously determined, then time travel cannot exist. However, quantum mechanics is not as well understood as it could be and is on highly shaky theoretical grounds, therefore the above statement possibly could be false.

There are some general problems with any sort of time travel. If a time traveler moves through time on the earth, then what happens if he moves forward about half of one day? Would he move along with the earth so that he would be at the same location on earth? Or would the earth stay still to be with him? Would he be positioned into space and suffocate? What if he were transported into a solid body (e.g., the earth)? Would it move aside? Would he move aside? Or will time travel be prevented?

The first law of thermodynamics states that the amount of energy in any enclosed area remains constant. When one travels through time, he moves matter to a different portion of time. Mass is energy. Therefore, the first law of thermodynamics will not be met during any period of time travel. (Gardener 10) The law of thermodynamics might be rewritten as follows: The amount of energy in any enclosed area over an infinite period of time remains constant.

There are also many problems with specifically traveling by speed. From here to the Andromeda galaxy is about 2.2 million light years (It would take light 2.2 million years to travel to the Andromeda galaxy.) If one could travel at an infinite speed, the journey would take one infinitieth of a second. Doing this, one would be susceptible to an infinite g force and would be crushed to the thickness of an infinitieth of an inch in an infinitieth of a second. This is a problem. Slower acceleration rates are necessary. In a Newtonian universe, accelerating at one g force (the gravity of the earth), the trip would take 2,065 years. This is a simple physics equation accelerating for half the journey and decelerating for the other half. On the other hand, in an Einstonian universe, where c is the maximum and applying the Lorentz factor when necessary,the trip would take a little less than two years. This is much better. (Preston Time1)

The first problem is that such an enormous mass is reached, so an enormous force is necessary to accelerate that mass (force is equal to mass times acceleration). For a space ship of ten tons, 5.1 x 10²⁶ (510,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) joules of energy is required. This result has not taken friction into consideration! One may think that there is not any friction in space to worry about. There is about two particles of space dust per cubic meter. That may not sound like much, but when the ship is moving near c, then the ship is hitting more dust faster and the ship is getting much bigger from the Lorentz factor. (Time1) Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing can go faster than c. It also states that nothing with mass can go at c (Einre), not to mention something that has infinite mass. Achieving high speeds, even with infinite energy, is not easy.

Here are some problems with getting that energy. So, there is a black hole on a ship? If there is any sort of malfunction, then the ship will implode. One does not just carry around a black hole for kicks. If somehow the power got cut to the rod holding the black hole, then the black hole would devour the rod, the ship, as well as the neighboring star systems. Penrose is right. Any mass that touches the black hole containment device will be sucked into the black hole and more energy will be released to compensate. If anything accidentally touches the black hole, then energy will uncontrollably be released. Air, people, sound waves and light are all forms of matter or matter motion. The black hole must be kept in an airtight, soundproof container (not easy to find). If one does not know the life span of the black hole being used, there could be problems and possibly the loss of ship. Black holes suck.

There are problems with other theories as well. Most wormholes that we expect to find will be unstable. The others will be a method of time travel. Of those, some will be one way trips. The others will be in places where time will be so dilated, that you will be moving either much faster or much slower than the people you encounter, so the people will not be able to interact with you. Chronoton particles are not easy to alter. They have such insignificant mass that they are not noticeable with current technology. We can't see them, let alone change them.

When anyone talks about time travel, there is one topic that almost always comes up, paradoxes. What happens if one goes back in time to kill his father before he was born? Think about that. Either you can't or the universe will cease to exist. If there was not a car in your driveway on Tuesday, can you go back in time on Wednesday, to Monday to put the car in the driveway?

Find the sculptor in this paradox: A scientist builds the first time machine and goes five hundred years into the future. There he finds a statue of himself commemorating the first time traveler. He brings it back to his own time. The current population sets it up in his honor. Who made the sculpture and when was it made? (Gardener 8)

Picture the following scenario: A professor says, "It is 3:04 and I have a brass cube in my hand. I have told myself and I am convinced that at 3:10 I will place this cube on my time portal and send it five minutes into the past." At 3:05 an exact replica of the cube appears. "I now have two of the exact same cube." A student charges the professor at 3:09 and takes the original cube and runs as fast as he can with it. At 3:10 the first and second laws of thermodynamics have been broken. The universe ceases to exist. This is a paradox. (Gardener 9)

If one deletes the copy of his report, and then goes back in time, and makes a backup. Can he return to the future and continue typing? No, he cannot. In the newly created universe, the time traveler had a copy of his report, so he did not need to go back in time. Therefore, the copy of the report was not made. But now, the trip back in time is necessary. So the backup was made. The trip was not necessary. The backup was not made, etc, etc, etc. (Einre) What is the true timeline? Are both true? This is not logical.

There are certain situations where paradoxes cannot exist: time dilation in the relativity theory at speeds slower than c, time travel in Godel's cosmos, and reversed time in Feynman's viewing of anti-particles. The reason that paradoxes never occur here, is because of the strict boundary created by other laws. (Gardener 4)

There is one "good" way out that authors have invented as a possibility. It is the theory of near infinite timelines. Whenever a decision is made by a sentient being, a new timeline is created for each possible decision. These timelines keep splitting every second.

Whenever time travel is achieved that would affect the current timeline, another timeline is traveled to and both universes coexist. These other universes are called "mirror" or "parallel" and the timeline continues with those changes intact. (Gardener 7) If this is true, then there would be a near infinite number of universes. There would be so many existences that we have no words or thoughts to describe or imagine them.

With this as truth, all of the paradoxes can be logically explained. If one goes back in time to kill his father before he was born, then he will succeed. It will not have been his father, but the father of a duplicate of himself. (Gardener 8) The jury will not accept "curiosity," "science," or "solving a paradox" as valid reasoning. They would undoubtedly convict the traveler. If Ted wanted to, he could go back in time and abduct himself over and over again. He could do this endlessly, as long as there is room in the phone booth. History might be chaotic (which would only help the second law of thermodynamics), but logically contradicting events would never occur. (Gardener 8)

Time travel is not philosophically or logically paradoxical. Time travel was originally thought impossible. Now with quantum mechanics and particle physics, it is theorized. I believe that time travel is possible. In the future I possibly could be convinced otherwise, only because of energy requirements, friction detriments, or other possible future developments, never because of logic or philosophy. So is time travel really possible? The evidence has been presented. It is up to you to theorize.

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