Possible, but utterly futile

S

Steve Head

Temporal Novice
If you sat in a time machine and went back 12 hours...
1)An observer would see you disappear
2) You would appear in deep space at an indeterminate location and explode.

This is because the earth spins, goes round the sun, and the solar system, nay, the whole universe is moving in a manner that will never be predictable. (relative to where?)
We can never know where the earth WAS in the past, and as we only ever discuss travel in time, we can assume we are not also travelling in space.
Consider only the spin of the earth and its' motion around the sun; that still means we have to travel halfway around the globe and 800,000 miles in space to go back to earth 12 hours ago.
So, time travel?? Why bother?
 
Steve, I think that's why some people believe that time travelers use spacecraft (UFOs). They can rematerialize in the vacinity of the target planet/time and not worry about winding up inside a rock or underwater, etc.
 
humanity thirsts for knwoledge,the fact you could even leave your message is testimony to that....as one seemingly unreachable goal is achieved ..another presents itself on the horizon...besides that its a dam site more interesting than staying in bed.
 
If we considering a person on a trampoline. The person and the trampoline have the same inertial properties as the earth. As the person jumps he maintains the same inertial properties. If he did not he would not land on the trampoline. We can be convinced of this fact if we consider what would happen if this were not true. There are three inertial velocities relevant to the person on the trampoline. 1)Rotational velocity, 1037 miles\hr 2)Earths orbital velocity, 66638 miles\hr 3)Orbital velocity of solar the system, 671080 miles\hr. If the person makes a jump that last 10 seconds and does not maintain these inertial velocities he will be displaced relative to each by a value that can be determined with the formula ( distance = rate x time ). Since no displacement is observed we must conclude that all inertial properties are maintained even when contact with the inertial reference frame is not. We can generalized this statement to include all froms of mass and energy. It is clear that all spatial inertial properties will be maintained through out any acceletated temporal displacement.

This to say that a time machine does not need to be a spacecraft. Any motion of a time traveler will be maintained through any time displacement.
 
TM - The person jumpimg on the trampoline is not leaving the present time frame. If he did, the trampoline would not be there when he came down (if he came down before it was built).

The argument for using a space craft or capsule is that the occupants would be in a controlled environment (safe air supply/water supply/etc.) and not be subjected to germs and other unknown hazards that may be present in the "time" to which they are traveling. Materializing in space is much safer than landing on an unknown landscape. You may leave from a safe place but arrive inside of a vulcano that used to be in the same location in the past.
 
Time and space though, is inseperable. So even if you're traveling through time, spatial effects (Inertia) would still be a factor.

When people use the "Earth is always changing position" argument, they always begin 'If you went back...' How come no one says if you went forward?

A form of forward time travel is more realistic and has been proven. (Time Dilation) Ask yourself this:

If you were going at 99999% of the speed of light, (Hence "Going into the future") and you happend into a blackhole, would you still be sucked in?

So, time travel might not leave you stranded in space after all.
 
I don't see what the speed of light has to do with time travel. There are particles/waves right here in our own time frame that travel less than, equal to, and faster than the speed of light. Light is just another frequency of the spectrum; it is not the slowest or the fastest frequency.

The position of the earth does matter in time travel. If you travel into the future and the earth had already been destroyed, you got a real problem, unless you are in a space ship or capsule to protect you.
 
NoTime:
I agree, a person experiencing a large temporal displacement would not land on the trampoline. However, he would maintain the inertial properties of the earth and land in the same location.
If the temporal displacement is large enough and a volcano forms were the trampoline once was then the person would materialize within the volcano. With or without a capsule this would be fatal. It still would be wise to use a capsule of some type for long jumps through time. Short jumps could be done with an acceptable margin of safty without a capsule.
What particle\wave can travel faster then light? Have read about time dilation?

Jack:
What spatial inertial properties would be a factor?
First going the speed of light does not = time travel. Second you would fall into the blackhole. If light can not excape, then a larger object has no chance.
If time and space can not be separated then what hold them together?
 
Once again, if you time travel forward or backward to the earth or to any other planet and attempt to land on the surface, there may be no way of knowing what the terrain is like. The safest approach would be to materialize in the vacinity of the planet and then select a safe landing spot. Inertia is irrelevant.
 
I see this as a rather mute point. Any technologically advanced society which has the ability to manipulate the energies required to warp space-time to the extent to which they could travel backwards in time should be able to compensate for the lateral movement of the milky way galaxy through the universe, the orbital movement of our solar system within our galaxy, and the movement of Earth around the sun. Actually, I would put nothing beyond the abilities of a society which possesed such technical know how for they would for practical purposes exist outside of time and be privaleged with knowledge of all things that have happened and all things that could. I suppose the only down fall for living in such a society is that you would have no true sense of history.
 
Well it seems the first words on this thread were uttered before along time ago. "A rocket ship leaving the earth would be sucked into the sun and explode." Funny how everytime mankind seeks to go beyond the science of the day, someone has them exploding.
 
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