• Question: Do you think time travel is/ever will be possible? If so, when abouts do you think it will happen?

    Asked by Cadet Faith to Jen, Greg, Laura, Mobeen, Paul on 8 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by FinnC the genius.
    • Photo: Mobeen Ali

      Mobeen Ali answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      With our current understanding of physics, going back in time isn’t possible. This would require an infinite amount of energy.

      To go forwards in time, you could travel at close to the speed of light so time would slow down for you. In this way a minute may have pasted for your but a thousands years could have passed for the rest of the universe.

    • Photo: Paul O'Mahoney

      Paul O'Mahoney answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I agree with Mobeen that going back in time seems pretty impossible from what we know about physics.

      Another way to travel forwards in time is to go very close to a massive object. Basically what you are doing is going to a less dense part of space-time, and this means that time flows at a slightly different rate. This picture sort of shows what I mean:

      See how the earth distorts the lines of space-time and they are closer together around the earth? That means that time flows a little bit faster on the surface of the earth than if you were in orbit.
      So for example, astronauts in orbit around the earth experience time at a slightly different rate than we do because they are further away from the earth! If you were on the ISS for a year, you would be roughly 0.014 seconds younger than if you had stayed on earth. It may not seem like much, but if you were closer to say a black hole (if you have seen Interstellar, this is what happened) the effects would be much greater. If you want to know more, you could look up ‘time dilation’.

      So yes, time travel is sort of possible, but it’s not very practical!

    • Photo: Laura Haworth

      Laura Haworth answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I think these two have answered this question for me. It would be so much fun if we could go back in time though!

    • Photo: Greg Melia

      Greg Melia answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      [I am currently answering this question from the future, after travelling back in time in the TARDIS I invented way back in 2032] :p

    • Photo: Jen Lowe

      Jen Lowe answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I would verge towards not possible, but so many things we have now were never even dreamt of 100 or more years ago, so I am really looking forward to seeing what technology comes along by the time I have grandchildren. I am amazed at the changes my grandparents have witnessed in their lifetimes. I am particularly waiting for faster air travel e.g. to Australia/New Zealand in a few hours rather than 12+ hours.

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