5 Ways To Time Travel

Bright Side

Imagine hitching a ride on a super-fast spaceship that zips through the cosmos at near-light speed. Thanks to Einstein's theory of relativity, time would slow down for you while you zoom away. When you return, you'd find that while you aged just a bit, everyone back on Earth has aged much more.  If you dare venture near a black hole, its intense gravity could bend time itself. As you approach the event horizon (that ominous point of no return), time dilation kicks in. Hours for you might translate into years for those watching from a safe distance. And these aren't the only way to time travel - pick yours!  Credit: Lightsmall: Michael Kramer, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...  Ronald Mallett: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Dr. Ronald Mallett, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...   #brightside   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music by Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD...   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.... TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.of...   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00 Okay, so you've seen the movies and read the books on time travel.

00:04 Most of them tell stories about entering some futuristic boxes, and in the blink of an eye,

00:09 you're in some different epic.

00:12 For now, this is just sci-fi.

00:14 But there are ways to make time travel possible, at least theoretically.

00:19 We just don't have the technology figured out yet.

00:22 For starters, time travel to the future could be achieved by traveling at high speeds, but

00:28 not just getting a ticket on the superhighway kind of speed.

00:31 This is based on Einstein's theory of special relativity.

00:35 It explains that time slows down for objects that move at really high speeds.

00:40 And the good news is scientists have already tested this theory, and it looks promising.

00:45 They did it with the help of two identical clocks.

00:48 One was placed on a jet, and one stayed on the ground.

00:51 They found that the clock on the jet ticked slower than the one on the ground because

00:55 of how fast the jet was moving.

00:58 The faster an object is moving, the more time will slow down for it.

01:02 Currently, the fastest speeds achieved by human technology are seen in a special type

01:06 of particles called neutrinos.

01:09 Some of these can move at almost the speed of light.

01:12 At these speeds, 1 second for the protons is equal to 11 months for us.

01:18 We might be able to time travel to the future with the use of gravity, too.

01:22 This idea is based on Einstein's findings, namely, his theory of general relativity.

01:28 This theory explains that the stronger gravity is, the more slowly time moves.

01:33 This means that as you get closer to the center of the Earth, the strength of gravity increases.

01:38 And if you think about it like that, time actually passes more slowly for your feet

01:43 than for your head.

01:44 Now, is that why I'm always late for stuff?

01:46 Good excuse!

01:48 This effect has been measured, too, with the help of the same strategy with two identical

01:53 clocks.

01:54 Scientists placed them on shelves at different heights and measured the rate of ticking.

01:58 The clock on the lower shelf ticked more slowly because it experienced a slightly stronger

02:04 gravity.

02:05 But this option comes with a catch.

02:06 To be able to travel to the far future, you'll need to find a place with extremely strong

02:11 gravity, like a black hole.

02:13 That's a point in space where the gravity has so much force that even light cannot escape

02:18 it.

02:19 There, gravity becomes so intense that matter gets squeezed into a tiny space.

02:23 The closer you get to the black hole, the more slowly time moves.

02:27 However, traveling via a black hole is very dangerous.

02:31 Mostly because it's a one-way ticket.

02:34 Once you cross its edges, there's no coming back.

02:36 Now, here's a fun fact.

02:38 The GPS systems we use on our phones and in our cars already have to account for time

02:43 dilation effects in order to work properly.

02:46 That's because of the speed of the satellites they use and the gravity they feel here on

02:51 Earth.

02:52 Without these corrections, your phone's GPS wouldn't be able to pinpoint your location

02:56 on Earth very precisely.

02:58 Meanwhile, the third option has less to do with the universe's unknown forces and more

03:03 to do with our own bodies.

03:06 Scientists are trying to find ways to time travel to the future by slowing down the body's

03:10 own processes.

03:11 It's not "time travel" per se.

03:14 You wouldn't technically be going anywhere.

03:16 But if your body stays put for a long period of time, you could eventually wake up in the

03:22 future.

03:23 Some animals, like bears and squirrels, can slow down their metabolism during hibernation,

03:28 which means they don't need as much food and oxygen to survive.

03:32 Specialists are trying to figure out if humans can do the same thing.

03:36 They're working on ways to make people go into a short-term hibernation for a few hours

03:41 to begin with.

03:42 This could be helpful for medical emergencies too, in order to help a person before they

03:47 can safely get to the hospital.

03:49 In 2005, scientists were able to slow down the metabolism of mice by exposing them to

03:55 a small amount of special gas.

03:57 However, when they tried to do the same thing with larger animals, it did not work as effectively.

04:04 Our fourth option of traveling through time is really unique.

04:07 It involves a special type of shortcut that may exist in our universe called wormholes.

04:14 Before we move on, let's try to understand what they are.

04:17 You'll need to picture two balls and a trampoline.

04:20 If there's no pressure applied on the trampoline, it stays flat.

04:24 Now imagine the two balls placed on the trampoline symmetrically.

04:28 If you look at them from this perspective, there's no possibility of them ever touching.

04:33 But if you put enough pressure on the trampoline between the two balls, this flexible fabric

04:38 can stretch so much that the two objects might potentially touch each other.

04:42 The same thing happens with stars in different star systems.

04:45 They're big enough to curve space around them.

04:48 That's why most planets tend to orbit around a star.

04:51 The tunnel between those two points would be a wormhole.

04:55 These wormholes could be used to travel long distances, like a billion light-years, or

04:59 even visit different times.

05:02 Many scientists, like Stephen Hawking, think that wormholes might appear and disappear

05:07 but be very small – smaller than atoms.

05:10 The problem is that we don't know how to catch one and make it bigger so that people

05:14 can use it.

05:15 This would take a lot of energy, and we don't know if it's even possible.

05:20 Some astronomers say that even if we could find a wormhole and enter it, it would rapidly

05:25 collapse on itself.

05:27 Even the tiniest bit of extra mass, like that of our bodies, for example, can result in

05:32 the wormhole slamming shut, like a rubber band that's been stretched too much.

05:36 Now, the fifth solution for time traveling was proposed by an American physicist named

05:41 Ron Mallett.

05:43 It involves one resource that we know for sure is abundant in the universe – light.

05:49 The scientist proposed a theory about time travel that would use a rotating cylinder

05:53 of light.

05:54 He believes that if something was dropped inside this swirling cylinder, it could be

05:59 moved in both space and time, similar to how a bubble moves when you swirl it with a spoon

06:04 in your coffee.

06:06 According to Mallett, the right shape of the cylinder could allow for traveling to both

06:10 the past and the future.

06:12 The physicist has been trying to raise money for an experiment to test his theory.

06:16 This experiment involves dropping tiny particles, called neutrons, through a circular arrangement

06:21 of spinning lasers.

06:23 However, other scientists say Mallett's theory is impossible, and there's no need

06:27 to test it further.

06:29 Well, even if we eventually figured out a way to travel back in the past or to the future,

06:34 would it be safe?

06:36 Scientists have been talking about a problem called the paradox of time travel for a long

06:41 time.

06:42 The main question is what would happen if you went back in time and did something that

06:45 changed the future.

06:47 However, a new study from researchers from the University of Queensland says that this

06:52 problem might not be real after all.

06:55 The scientists have done some calculations and found out that even if you had changed

06:59 something in the past, the timeline would still end up the same way.

07:04 Another variation of this problem is called the grandfather paradox.

07:08 Imagine going back in time and preventing your own grandfather from having offspring.

07:13 Come to think of it, it automatically means you shouldn't exist in the first place.

07:18 If your grandparents didn't have your parents, how can you exist at all?

07:22 Well, these days scientists are certain that even if you did experience something like

07:26 that, you'd still exist in the present.

07:28 That's because the timeline that already exists has a way of adjusting itself, regardless

07:34 of where people are in time and what they do.

07:38 Or somehow get 1.21 gigawatts in a DeLorean and make like Marty McFly.

07:44 That's it for today!

07:47 So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

07:51 friends!

07:52 Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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