ASK!

This blogger posed an interesting scenario, –is time traveling ever possible?http://ngshuhann.blogspot.com/ (Thursday, July 23, “Time Traveller”)

Some of his muses included how time traveling can result in an existential paradox such as: what if you traveled to a time before you were born, can you even exist?

Time traveling has always been an intriguing topic, especially to those who wish to rectify their past actions.

Scientifically speaking however, traveling back in time to the past is an almost improbable feat.

Time traveling to the present however according to Einstein, is only possible, if you travel at the speed of light. This can be explained using the principal of time dilation, which states that as an object approaches the speed of light, time slows down immensely.

For instance, Einstein’s theories predict that the faster a spacecraft moves, the slower time ticks inside of it, therefore, technically, the people outside of the spacecraft, on earth, has “travelled” faster through time as compared to the people in the spacecraft.

Until traveling faster or at the speed of light is made possible for everybody, we should revel in the present! Carpe diem!

In the meantime, check out these fantastic books on the science of time travel!

The new time travelers : a journey to the frontiers of physics by David Toomey
Publisher: New York : W. W. Norton, c2007.
Call Number: English 530.11 TOO

Breaking the time barrier : the race to build the first time machine by Jenny Randles.
Publisher: New York : Paraview Pocket Books, 2005.
Call Number: English 530.11 RAN

Time travel in Einstein’s universe : the physical possibilities of travel through time by J. Richard Gott, III.
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, c2001.
Call Number: English 530.11 GOT

Posted By:

Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services