Is Time Travel a real thing?

“Time travel” a fascinating word in the realm of science fiction. We have witnessed tons of movies and TV serials made on time travel. And, I’m sure you must have seen your favorite movie more than once. 

Most time, when we think about "time travel," we imagine of a "Time Machine," place us in, push a button and bingo. Next moment, we might have transmitted far away in times. Courtesy to movies, that's the scene of a "time travel" moment, I had pictured in my head.

So, what is "time travel"? Rather, I should ask, is it possible to travel in times? Can we move twenty years from now in a flash and feel the future version of the current world? Or, can we go back in time and meet our grandparents on their first date?

Sounds intriguing and fascinating right? I know. It has always been for me.

Research work laid out by Albert Einstein had helped scientist to come to the plausible notation on "time travel." And, I will touch upon them in a second.

So, What’s not possible

Travel back in time is apparently very unlikely at present. At least, we don’t have any substantial foundation, backed up by science which infers travel back in time is possible. 

But, for a moment, let’s say, it's possible. I mean, go back in time. 

Think of a scenario, where you go back in time, in a Time Machine and meet your grandfather. He was just about to go on a blind date to meet your grandmother. But, You convince him not to go for the date (How you convince him, is not relevant here). Instead, you and your grandfather hang out together and go for a movie. How, interesting? But, on the flipside, if your grandfather doesn’t meet your grandmother,  how your father would be born and if your dad doesn’t be born how you would born and travel back in time?

Now, you see the paradox? It’s called Grandfather paradox.

All physicist agree that ultimate real in this universe is nature. If it allows us to travel back in time, there could be few possibilities.

Travel back in time

Three logical scenarios can exist when we attempt to go back in time

1. Travel back in time is not possible, as I mentioned above. It would cause an inconsistency in time loop
2. It’s possible, but you would not have any power to alter or change the history. In our example, you wouldn't be able to stop your grandfather from meeting your grandma.
3. It’s possible, and we would have the power to alter the course of history. But, that would create the existence of the parallel universe. You would change the course of history, but that would alter the history of a Parallel Universe, not the universe you might have transported. And, Parallel Universe, is a topic for some other day. 

Now what’s possible

We don’t have to worry about the paradox when we travel in the future. Theoretically, travel in future is possible. In fact, we all are traveling in time. Every minute, you travel one minute in the future in time. 

Now, take a pause and ponder about what I just stated. Yes, we are traveling in time, in future.

But the puzzle is, can we travel in time faster than "one minute per minute?" Here comes Sir Albert Einstein.

Special Theory of Relativity

Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity says space and time are the aspect of the same thing- "space-time." And, when you travel in "space-time," especially, when your speed, relative to other stationary objects are close to the speed of light (186,000 miles/sec), time goes slow for you. You would notice the effect when you return to the stationary objects. This phenomenon is called "time dilation."

Let’s say, on January 1st, 2018 you leave Earth in a spacecraft traveling at the 99% speed of light in space-time and come back to Earth after a year. You would age one year, but your friends on Earth would experience ten years. On Earth, the time would be Jan 1st, 2028.

In a sense, you have been time traveling and going to the future at a rate faster than one minute per minute.

General Theory of Relativity

Einstein’s theory of general relativity says, if you come closer to a high gravitational object, time in space-time would go slow for you. The kind of gravity you might find near a black hole. 

Let's say, you are in a Spacecraft and you park your craft near a black hole for a while. Once you return to the Earth, you would notice, many years might have passed on Earth but only a few weeks or months would have passed on your own frame of time reference. 

I’m sure you must have seen the movie, Interstellar. 

In the film, Cooper and his team landed on a large watery planet on which gravity is 30% stronger than on Earth. This planet is situated very close to a supermassive black hole called Gargantua which it orbits at 55% the speed of light. Gargantua mass is equal to that of a hundred million Suns and spins at 99.8% of the speed of light.  The combination of all these factors has the effect of slowing down time-related to the astronaut left aboard the ship by a staggering 61,000 time. That means that one hour on the planet is the seven years on the vessel. When the team makes it back to the spacecraft, after a little over three hours, their friends had aged over twenty-three years. So, in essence, the crew had  traveled twenty-three years into the future 

Summary

So, Maybe one day, we would travel in time, faster than we do today. Or Maybe not. I don’t know. But, I like to hear from you. What do you think?

Thanks for reading my post. If you find it interesting, do put a up-vote and leave a comment. Cheers guys!

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