Question: I was wondering about your views on Stephan Hawkins theory about time travel. if you are not farmiliar, I will explain. The theory is that if a mode of transport(eg. plane, rocket, train etc.) was able to go almost the speed of light and it circled a large sphere over a long period, time in the carrige would slow down to stop the mode of transport going over the speed of light. For example, if there was a train with a rainway that went around the whole circumference of the earth, and went at as close as you can get to the speed of light time would be slowed. If the train were to circle the earth for a centuary, in the train only a week would have passed. Thoughts?

Asked by rubyvnangeldracula to Carina, Emma, Hannah, Mel, Yashar on 31 Aug 2012.

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  1. Photo: Yashar RazaviYashar Razavi
    answered on 31 Aug 2012:

    The problem is that nothing but light can travel at this speed.
    It’s a sound theory though. But a theory is just that, a THEORY. And since some theories can never be proven, we can only speculate whether they are possible.

    To speculate further though, I can add that if you wanted to achieve such speeds, you might need to either go full blast into a black-hole (god knows what’ll happen then!!!) or try and circle a massive sun. Both would lead to certain doom!

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  2. Photo: Hannah BrownHannah Brown
    answered on 2 Sep 2012:

    Ruby, you are truly asking some amazing questions!
    You definitely sounds like a scientist in the making, science needs more curious minds like you!

    I know NOTHING about time travel, but i’d certainly like to travel back through time!!

    Do you have an opinion on the theory?

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  3. Photo: Melina EllisMelina Ellis
    answered on 3 Sep 2012:

    Like Hannah – am very impressed by the depth of your question!

    This idea of time travel is based on Einstein’s special theory of relativity which tells us that an object moving extremely fast/close to or as close to the speed of light does not experience time in the same way as those who are on still on Earth and so experience a form of “time travel”.

    This is also known as Einstein’s twin paradox (in special relativity). The twin paradox describes what happens when one twin travels in space in a spaceship/rocket at high-speed, only to return home to find that her twin has aged more. This is a paradox as both twins are travelling in space so would feel as is each is aging. There are several ways to interpret this but Einstein referred to it as time dilation – or slowing down of time.

    I learnt about this at uni (I studied astronomy in first year and loved it!), while it makes sense as a thought experiment it is not possible to test this as a physical experiment- at least not now!

    I’m interested in your thoughts too!
    🙂

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  4. Photo: Carina MarshallCarina Marshall
    answered on 4 Sep 2012:

    Ah physics. The science of never being able to prove or disprove your theories. However, I love Stephen Hawking and have a deep and abiding respect for his brain power. So if he thinks that’s what would happen, I’ll believe him.

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