First Time Machine

Hi nighthawk. I liked the video very much but it left me with a problem, if as you say light distorts time and space then surely what we are observing now is all an illusion? It is not the first time that I have thought about this one, since I was at school and learned about Einsteins theory of relativity I began to wonder about this. If time and space are the same, then what we see at the moment is just a brief moment in space? In other words everything is an illusion of space and time. I would be gratefull if you could help me with this one. Spencer.

Hi Scapolie, you wrote: "If time and space are the same, then what we see at the moment is just a brief moment in space? In other words everything is an illusion of space and time".

If you and nighthawk will pardon me for jumping in, just one input: time and space are not "the same" - they are two different parts of a continuum called space-time, but they have different characteristics.

Space-time gets distorted by energy, being it mass-energy or radiation energy. I think the object here is to create enough concentrated radiation energy in a compact enough volume and make it to curve and twist space-time like a rotating black hole would do. Then the same physics applies as for black holes.

-J

Jorrie,

How does the comparison of time and space differ from the comparison of mass and energy? Mass and energy have vastly different characteristics yet except for the constant 'c' in E=MC^2 we consider them the same thing. We express intervals in Minkowski space in terms of space or time differing only by the use of the constants 'c' and 'i'. How is this different? (I'm a little new at this)

Joe

Hi Joe,

You asked "How does the comparison of time and space differ from the comparison of mass and energy? "

As I have it, mass is physically convertible into energy (and visa versa), but space cannot be physically converted into time (or visa versa). The "c" in "ct" does not really convert time into space - it's just a convenient multiplier by which one can plot space and time on the same scale (say both in meters) on a space-time diagram.

In his "Brief History of Time", Stephen Hawking wrote something like "space remains space and time remains time". Further, "ict" has been dropped as an unnecessary complication on space-time diagrams and in the space-time metric. (Misner, Thorne, Wheeler)

-J

I have great difficulty in accepting this statement of the chief scientist, paraphrased: "When I first switch on the machine there may pop out particles that I have not yet put there... It may be particles that I will put there in the future..."

This will violate the causality (effect after cause) principle in a big way!

-J

Jorrie,

I've heard of the "Tipler Time Machine" which involves a rotating super-massive cylinder (which would have to be made of some pretty stout stuff), but I have never read about light having an effect on space-time. Is there an effect like they describe in the video?

I too am skeptical of the causality effect. Maybe the first thing that comes through will be the financial pages of tomorrow's newspaper with the stock prices.

Hi Guest, you asked: "... but I have never read about light having an effect on space-time."

Light is energy. Concentrate enough of it in a small enough volume and the effect on space-time can be severe. It's the same as concentrating enough mass in a small enough volume - you may have a black hole!

-J

Here is the scary part. If this experiment is successful, we will never know. I do believe it would create a black hole. I also believe it would grow extremely fast. We could never stop it as it would be growing before we knew it grew! As proposed, I don't believe it will be successful, however with some modifications, it actually may be possible, but I don't actually believe he will figure it out.

DavidARheault

Yuval, where are you? I can explain to you a part of my theory by using this story.

DavidARheault