Final chapter: Possability of Time Travel

Is time travel possible? Can we actually move backwards or forwards to different points on time? It is currently unknown whether the laws of physics will allow time travel to pass. In theory, particularly the multiverse theory, it is believed to be possible.

One man, a University of Connecticut professor Ronald Mallett is challenging this notion by trying to send elementary particles back into time using a laser. His project has received criticism within the physics community, but he nonetheless continues its efforts.

A central problem with time travel to the past is the violation of causality. This phenomenon is relationship between a first event and a second event where the second event is a direct consequence of the first. Thus, should an effect precede its cause, it would give rise to the possibility of temporal paradox. One of the most famous temporal paradoxes is the Grandfather Paradox. In this riddle, a boy travels back in time and kills his grandfather before his grandfather is conceived. This leaves the boy unable to return to his previous state, because in his present world, he now would not exist. Some interpretations of time travel resolve this by accepting the possibility of travel between parallel realities or universes.

I know its sort of exciting to imagine a thing like this happening. But really, according to the laws of physics- you could not travel back in time without somehow affecting the present and the future.

Time MINI mini series Part IV: Time and the Big Bang

When did time actually begin? Some argue that time is infinite and others argue that it is finite.
Others argue whether the Big Bang is where it all began or if time existed prior to this event. The latest in the field of brane cosmology explains The Big Bang as an occurrence of two giant membranes colliding, thus birthing our universe. Perhaps the best explanation, in my opinion, is from none other than Steven Hawking. He discovered time within our universe began with the Big Bang.

In A Brief History of Time and elsewhere, Hawking says that even if time did not begin with the Big Bang and there were another time frame before the Big Bang, no information from events then would be accessible to us, and nothing that happened then would have any effect upon the present time-frame.

Scientists have come to some agreement on descriptions of events that happened 10−35 seconds after the Big Bang, but generally agree that descriptions about what happened before one Planck time (5 × 10−44 seconds) after the Big Bang will likely remain pure speculation.

2009 Leonid Meteor Shower!

The 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower is coming to Earth and possibly near you! Meteor showers are typically named after the area of the sky from which they appear to radiate. The Leonids come from the constellation Leo.

The Leonids are known to be made up of particles from a 2.2 mile dusty comet called “Tempel-Tuttle”. This comet takes 33 years to complete an orbit.

The Earth encounters the lingering debris from previous orbital passes when these tiny particles, typically no bigger than a sand grain, impact our atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 miles per second, revealing a spectacular blazing myriad of colors in the night sky.
Comets are composed to ice and dust and melt when they get closer to the sun, spreading particles around the part of the orbit. When Earth passes through the orbital debris - we experience a meteor shower.

BRACE YOURSELF. You could potentially see up to 30- 300 shooting stars per hour depending on your dwelling. Get out the lawn chairs and beer and toast to a miraculous and spectacular vision.

Count on moments like these to really put us in our place. To remind us of something much greater beyond this Earth and much larger - making us somewhat…insignificant.

Sometimes, we humans (the dominant species) NEED to be knocked down a few pegs…

Check out the International Meteor Organization for more specific info.

Time MINI mini series Part 4: Time and the "Big Bang"

Little is known about the earliest moments of the universe's history

Scientists have come to some agreement on descriptions of events that happened 10−35 seconds after the Big Bang, but generally agree that descriptions about what happened before one Planck time (5 × 10−44 seconds) after the Big Bang will likely remain pure speculation.

Stephen Hawking is perhaps the most famous cosmologist today studying time.
Upon occasion, he has stated that time actually began with the Big Bang, and that questions about what happened before the Big Bang are irrelevant.

Even if time did not begin with the Big Bang and there was another time frame before the Big Bang, no information from events then would be accessible to us, and nothing that happened then would have any effect upon the present time-frame.

Some argue that our measurable, quantified “time” concerns the elements beyond the visible universe.

Afterall, there may also be parts of the universe well beyond what can be observed in principle.

Some theories, each of which are untested hypotheses, include the Hartle-Hawking boundary condition in which the whole of space-time is finite; the Big Bang does represent the limit of time, but without the need for a singularity (one specific point where the event occurred).
Brane cosmology is another story. The word “brane” refers to a giant oscillating membrane believed to house individual universes. Brane cosmology models contend that this "inflation" of the universe is due to the movement of branes.

The pre-big bang model; the ekpyrotic model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes; and the cyclic model, a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which collisions occur periodically between them.
Chaotic inflation occurs: in which inflation events start here and there in a random quantum-gravity foam, each leading to a bubble universe expanding from its own big bang. This my dear friends- is a segway into theories of parallel universes.

Time MINI mini series Part 3: The Arrow of time

I could be sued for reproducting this picture. I know that. I am usually smarter than that. BUT I dont intend to redistribute it for money blah blah blah.... I just thought it was an amazing way to illustrate our discussion.

It’s not exactly cupid’s arrow, but time DOES indeed have a direction. The past lies behind us: fixed and unchangeable, while the future lies ahead and is not necessarily fixed. When we gaze into the universe we absorb this principal since we can only see as far into the universe as light can travel.

It is in essence- looking back in time.

A bit of physics for you to show how this is present in the different ideological branches:

The main areas of physics suggesting that time is an arrow include: the Second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy must increase over time; the cosmological arrow of time, which points away from the Big Bang, and the radiative arrow of time, caused by light only traveling forwards in time. In particle physics, there is also the weak arrow of time.

The thought that time is a topological form is indeed strange, but very prevalent in Big Bang cosmology…

Time MINI mini series part 2: The real Spacetime

Time has historically been closely related with space, the two together comprising space-time in Einstein's special relativity and general relativity.

According to these theories, the concept of time depends on the spatial reference frame of the observer, and the human perceptions as well as the measurement by instruments such as clocks are different for observers in relative motion. The past is the set of events that can send light signals to the observer; the future is the set of events to which the observer can send light signals.

Returning to the discussion of visible universe, consider this concept in measuring the size of our universe: we can only see as far as light can travel. So maybe this space-time mumbo jumbo isn’t so incorrect after all.

Time mini "Mini series" Part 1: Defining the standards

Ahhh…TIME. Your greatest friend or your worst enemy. The clock either works for you or against you. It is the only elements in this life that moves continuously. NOTHING stops time! The conceptual framework was debated for thousands of years by philosophers and cosmologists.

Time is such a perplexing theme in cosmology that I’m featuring a mini mini series about it. This is part 1 and based on our universal laws- you will be guaranteed to see a 2, 3 and 4 as well.

Time, by formal definition is a component of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects.

Time keeping is so critical to the functioning of modern societies that it is coordinated at an international level. The basis for scientific time is a continuous count of seconds based on atomic clocks around the world, known as the International Atomic Time IAT. These clocks are related to electromagnetism and emissions of the atoms when their internal components change energy levels.

Maybe you’ve heard the term “Real time”?
Real time is actually a description technique in which the events depicted take place entirely within the span of the depiction, and at the same rate, regardless of external factors.
IE…if you’re in France and on Facebook chat and I’m in America on FB chat- we’re talking in real time. Never mind the fact that we are located in 2 different time zones with drastic differences in times of day. We are indeed, virtually in the same place at the same time.