Hello Wings (and hi to QuantumZeta as well). Welcome to TTI
Hello
Just like the speaker before me, I am new to these forums and to time travel theories.
I am very much interested in the matter but I lack basic physics and science knowledge to understand thorougly the theories about time traveling. Therefore, I will be very thankful if you could tell me where should I start, what to read and which fields of physics should I get interested in.
This is very important to me so I'll appreciate any and all answers.
I do not keep up on popular (layman level) science books these days. But I am a part-time professor of aerospace engineering (and practicing aero engineer), so I can speak a bit about how you can chart an educational path to higher knowledge about scientific topics.
Wings, you have the right idea in starting by studying up on physics. But before one can really study a certain, specialize field of physics, you need a solid foundation in the basics of physics. This is the way that all undergrad degree programs in science and engineering develop students to the point where they can focus on a specialized area of any topic. All accredited university science and engineering degrees usually require a sequence of classes in physics. These always start with solid mechanics (also known as classical physics or classical mechanics). This introduces Newton's Laws of Motion for solid objects, and eventually move on to how those same theories can be modified in terms of their equations to also deal with the motions of fluids. These programs introduce the concepts of how we measure energy and power with respect to both solids and fluids, and eventually move on to electromagnetic theories. This series of courses eventually end up with some high level introductions to Relativity Theory, and once you have your solid foundation in classical physics, Relativity is where you are going to want to focus to begin to understand the structure of space-time (what is called a tensor field) and how it interacts with matter.
A very good, and commonly used, textbook for these topics is
Fundamentals Of Physics, by the authors Halliday and Resnick. Of course, I would recommend taking live courses at a community college or university, as this is where you stand the best chance of mastering these topics in fairly short amount of time with a high quality of retention and practice when you are complete. But there are alternatives in the internet age. One of the alternatives that I point my undergrad students to are the videos on YouTube known as the Khan Academy. Here is a link to their offerings on physics:
Khan Academy
Follow the videos in order from the left hand side, and from top-to-bottom. In browsing the list you will immediately see some of the topics I talked about above, such as Newton's three laws of motion. This list should keep you busy, and the videos are very good. Feel free to ask any questions of myself or Darby here that may come up in your mind as you watch the videos. Perhaps it might be best to post such questions in the Real Science forum?
I hope this gives you some good ideas on how to start your journey in the study of science. Teaching is "in my DNA", if you will, and I will always strive to help people who are trying to learn technical topics. So first of all, I salute you for taking up this challenge, and secondly, do not hesitate to ask for help. I am usually more than willing to do so, as is our good friend Darby. Cheers!
RMT
