What Is It?
To put it simply, time travel is the ability to travel faster or slower in time than we generally travel. Technically, all of us "travel through time". In fact, we're doing it right now! We humans move through time at a rate of about 1 hour per 1 hour, which is normal time traveling speed. Therefore, we can also conclude that we travel at around 1 year per year. However, the concept of time travel is much more complex than this simplification. What we're asking here is whether we can travel at say 10 hours per hour or maybe a year per hour, or go back at a rate of 2 hours per hour . This would mean that we're moving forward/backward in time through the space-time continuum, since we're traveling at a faster speed than what would be normal (1 hour=1 hour).
Can It Be Achieved?
To make complex answers short: yes. However, there is a lot more detail about how, what, and when time travel will be possible.
One of the surest methods of traveling into the future is well known, although the methods of achieving this are not quite within our grasp yet. Einstein's theory of Special Relativity (backed by NASA; links down below) proves that in relation to the speed of mundane or regular objects/animals the faster the speed, the slower time moves for us. Let me explain: If you were put onto a rocket that is traveling close to the speed of light (186000 miles per second), and you traveled in space for 5 years, you would come back to Earth approximately 50 years into its future. Therefore, if a 15 year-old celebrated 5 birthdays during his voyage in space, he would come back to Earth and find that all of their high-school mates would be around 65 years old! We can conclude that traveling faster means time goes by slower for us.
Now, some of the methods below will be immensely complex, so I will do my best to simplify. We'll start with another proven idea (General Relativity) that piggybacks on the rocket travel. General Relativity states that all objects in gravitational fields pass through time slower than objects far away from such fields. Therefore if us humans were to live somewhere in space, away from a gravitational field, we would pass through time faster. The other methods of time travel now come down to mere speculation and educated guessing. Black holes (a space of infinite mass and gravity), have long been speculated to have the unique abilities of warping space and time. Many scientists believe that black holes could be portals to travel throughout time, but unfortunately, this cannot be proven (as no one is stupid enough to try and enter). Another speculation is the existence of wormholes and cosmic strings, which are believed to be able to allow people to travel through time by cutting a hole through the space-time continuum. However, I'm not going to describe further since this cuts deep into astro-physics.
When/Will It Happen?
As to whether or not time travel will happen, especially in our lifetime, that remains to be seen. Important trends that our eyes have to be peeled for include the development rate of technology and science, as it will allow us to answer more lingering questions we may have about the complex: wormholes and cosmic strings. Obviously, I will want time travel to be possible in our lifetime, because it will bring the entire world of sci-fi to life if something of this magnitude were to be made possible. Time travel continues to be one of the great and intriguing questions that have stumped many scientists, and remains to be seen whether humans can make this possible.
Time Travel Information Links:
1. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/time_travel/esp_ciencia_timetravel25.htm
2. http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/time-travel.html
Image Credit Here
To put it simply, time travel is the ability to travel faster or slower in time than we generally travel. Technically, all of us "travel through time". In fact, we're doing it right now! We humans move through time at a rate of about 1 hour per 1 hour, which is normal time traveling speed. Therefore, we can also conclude that we travel at around 1 year per year. However, the concept of time travel is much more complex than this simplification. What we're asking here is whether we can travel at say 10 hours per hour or maybe a year per hour, or go back at a rate of 2 hours per hour . This would mean that we're moving forward/backward in time through the space-time continuum, since we're traveling at a faster speed than what would be normal (1 hour=1 hour).
Can It Be Achieved?
To make complex answers short: yes. However, there is a lot more detail about how, what, and when time travel will be possible.
One of the surest methods of traveling into the future is well known, although the methods of achieving this are not quite within our grasp yet. Einstein's theory of Special Relativity (backed by NASA; links down below) proves that in relation to the speed of mundane or regular objects/animals the faster the speed, the slower time moves for us. Let me explain: If you were put onto a rocket that is traveling close to the speed of light (186000 miles per second), and you traveled in space for 5 years, you would come back to Earth approximately 50 years into its future. Therefore, if a 15 year-old celebrated 5 birthdays during his voyage in space, he would come back to Earth and find that all of their high-school mates would be around 65 years old! We can conclude that traveling faster means time goes by slower for us.
Now, some of the methods below will be immensely complex, so I will do my best to simplify. We'll start with another proven idea (General Relativity) that piggybacks on the rocket travel. General Relativity states that all objects in gravitational fields pass through time slower than objects far away from such fields. Therefore if us humans were to live somewhere in space, away from a gravitational field, we would pass through time faster. The other methods of time travel now come down to mere speculation and educated guessing. Black holes (a space of infinite mass and gravity), have long been speculated to have the unique abilities of warping space and time. Many scientists believe that black holes could be portals to travel throughout time, but unfortunately, this cannot be proven (as no one is stupid enough to try and enter). Another speculation is the existence of wormholes and cosmic strings, which are believed to be able to allow people to travel through time by cutting a hole through the space-time continuum. However, I'm not going to describe further since this cuts deep into astro-physics.
When/Will It Happen?
As to whether or not time travel will happen, especially in our lifetime, that remains to be seen. Important trends that our eyes have to be peeled for include the development rate of technology and science, as it will allow us to answer more lingering questions we may have about the complex: wormholes and cosmic strings. Obviously, I will want time travel to be possible in our lifetime, because it will bring the entire world of sci-fi to life if something of this magnitude were to be made possible. Time travel continues to be one of the great and intriguing questions that have stumped many scientists, and remains to be seen whether humans can make this possible.
Time Travel Information Links:
1. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/time_travel/esp_ciencia_timetravel25.htm
2. http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/time-travel.html
Image Credit Here