Time Travelers

Ever wonder if time travel was possible? Well wonder no longer because it is and you’ve probably done it yourself a time or two. WARNING – this one requires some jr. high school math (middle school for those born in the 70’s or later, high school for those that were a little slow) and a tiny bit of imagination.

Now you have to accept a few things up front to grasp this thoroughly. First, time is a man made concept. The same applies to math while we’re at it. Also, we’re going to take a few liberties with physics and reality but we won’t get too far beyond the realm of sanity, I promise.

OK, let’s take a trip down memory lane real quick. Remember this (d = r X t) or the “dirt” theorem? (d) Distance equals ( r) Rate of speed multiplied by (t) Time. So let’s say it takes you two hours to travel 100 miles, using the formula we know you were going 50 (mph) miles per hour (100 = 2 X 50). Basic algebra lets us work the formula for the other variables just as easily (d / r = t and d / t = r) so as long as we know as least two of the variables we can find the remaining one. OK, that ends the math lesson – still with me or do you need a minute for the smoke pouring out of your ears to clear?

Suppose you had the kind commute and you lived approximately 30 miles from your place of business. If you averaged 30 mph on your daily drive we know it would take you an hour to get to work every day, day in and day out, one day after another for years and years. We can go through the math again here but if you haven’t gotten by now - not feeling good about your chances of ever getting it. Just take my word for it at this point.

SO – somewhere along the line one day you’re going to get up a little late. The alarm clock doesn’t go off, massive hang over, the significant other is looking particularly hot this AM – whatever the reason, you’re late for work. You jump out of bed, race through your morning routine and scramble to the car. Just like everyone else in this predicament you fly down the street putting your seatbelt on halfway down the street standing on the accelerator. For some reason only known to you safety and traffic laws are trumped by your need to get to work on time.

Averaging a speed of 45 mph you magically get to work in only 40 minutes where it usually takes you a full hour. Yes, there was more math in there somewhere but I thought I would save you the grief at this point. Realizing you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore you adjust your alarm clock accordingly to give yourself a few extra minutes of sleep (yea U).

Uh oh, there’s that pesky snooze button again, guess who’s late for work? Kickin’ in the emergency procedures as usual you zoom to work at 60 miles an hour this time getting there in only 30 minutes. You’ve gotten to work in half the time it took you originally by going twice as fast to get there, presupposing you aren’t on the side of the road explaining it to Barney Fife, life is good.

OK, now you’re just being flat out lazy – late again, you suck. Putting the public at risk once again you scream down the thoroughfare at a blistering 90 mph getting to work in just about 20 minutes. Providing you haven’t wrapped yourself around a telephone pole in the process you’ve made it on time once again.

I’m going out on a limb here and assume a good number of us have followed one or more of these scenarios in some fashion at one time or another. Up until now this has been completely feasible. We’ve all given it a little gas to get where we wanted to go a little quicker, hell it’s only illegal if you get caught right? Now let’s get crazy with it.

At 120 mph you could get to work in only 15 minutes, one quarter of the time it took you originally. Good luck explaining that one to your insurance company by the way. Of course you must have a really good job to be able to afford a car that goes 120 mph so maybe money ain’t a thang in your case, but then why are you beating to work like an idiot everyday? Stay with me, that won’t be the last paradox we run into before all is said and done.

The astute have figured out by now every time you double your speed you cut your travel time in half. So at 240 mph, in your Murcielago (a really cool car, Lamborghini that you cannot afford) you streak past the local constabulary and arrive in 7.5 minutes. And at 480 mph you get there in 3 minutes and 15 seconds, defying the laws of physics and common sense along the way. Well, actually the world land speed record is 763.035 MPH - Mach 1.0175 set by Andy Green and Richard Noble, so we’re still in the realm of reality - as long as the Bonneville Salt Flats are the route you take to work. In case you’re wondering that speed would get you to work in a little over 6 seconds (see how I drop a little trivial knowledge on you when you’re not lookin’).

Here it is in a nutshell, given increased speed decreases time spent traveling a fixed distance we can logically conclude there is a speed that will get us where we need to go in no time flat. No, I mean literally no elapsed time between the time you leave and the time you arrive. Let’s call that speed X. We know 30mph got us to work in an hour and 60 cut that time in half so there’s no doubt that increasing our speed lowers our time in transit. There has to be a speed that gets us there in 0 time, we’ve dubbed this speed X mph. So what happens when you go X + 1?

If X mph gets you there in zero time flat, X + 1 must get you there in some time less than zero. How exactly does that work, do you get there before you leave? And if so, do you pass yourself along the way? Can you be two places at once or do you ever catch up to the original you? Remember that paradox I promised you, well there you go.

I’m pretty sure my arithmetic was sound but if I made an error along the way I humbly apologize. The mathematical and physics concepts themselves are solid. Chew on that for a while and if you come up with some answers, by all means, please let me know.