Rendezvous with Time

RENDEZVOUS WITH TIME

As I consider this which I am beginning to write, I think of the "Enterprise" in "Star Trek": a ship "which could go where no man had gone before".In the plot of these stories time had little meaning since their velocity of travel was measured as "warp" speed. Warp meant the speed of light which is 186,300 miles per second and distances in space are measured in light-years. ( it takes light about 8 minutes to travel from the sun to earth.) The point I am trying to make is that time and distance are interrelated as shown by two very different ideas: Einstein's Theory of Relativity: energy equals mass times the speed of light squared (E= mc2) and the science of quantum mechanics. To be brief, the special theory of relativity states that superluminal motion implies the possibility of time travel because faster than light speeds may be possible. The second part of Einstein's theory "general relativity" says that nothing with mass can reach the speed of light.

Quantum mechanics is the study of matter and radiation at an atomic level. In other words, it is a branch of physics that deals with the motion of bodies and associated physical quantities such as energy and momentum. Quantum effects are significant in the laser, the transistor and diode, the electron microscope, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) etc. Researchers are trying to develop quantum cryptography, which will allow guaranteed transmission of information, and quantum teleportation,which deals with the transmission of quantum states over arbitrary distances. While time and space appear to be on equal terms, it is impossible to construct a reasonable quantum field theory of gravitation. Thus the standard theory of relativity and quantum mechanics are incompatible. However, research has shown that the space-time continuum is affected by both special relativity and quantum mechanics This concept of light, space and time is important to setting up my proposition that time travel is possible. Additionally, God who created all that we know or can imagine has given us the ability to unlock the secrets of the universe.

Just when did all of what we know begin? The "Big Bang" theory explains that where nothing existed anywhere, suddenly, all in a split second, our universe began. It was a "singularity" which sprang into existance nearly 14 billion years ago. "Singularities" are thought to exist in the center of a "black hole" which, of itself, has a center of gravitational pressure so intense that all matter within it is compacted into an intensity that even light cannot escape. At the instant of the Big Bang, this singularity expanded from something infinitely small to our universe as we know it today. And, it continues to expand in all directions.

But, the Big Bang theory has holes in it. You would think that when the explosion happened all matter would have been dispersed equally in all directions. However, it has been demonstrated that there are massive superclusters of galaxies, as well as vast areas in space, which are completely empty of matter. There are superclusters of galaxies 300 million light-years long and 100 million light-years thick, stretching out about a billion light-years, and separated by voids about 300 million light-years across. Please note that at the speeds at which galaxies are moving, it would require about 80 billion years to create our universe, rather than the 14 billion of the Big Bang postulate. In addition, it has recently been discovered that there is a series of galaxies 200 million light-years across and 700 million light-years long. There are galaxies in clusters that are 7 billion light-years long or about 1/4th of the diameter of the known universe. Using the Big Bang postulate and based on their speed of movement it would have taken 150 billion years to form.14 billion years, 80 billion years, 150 billion years? Do we really have any idea how old the universe is?

Time is not a phenomenon which simply depends on the speed of movement, it is movement itself. If speed is defined not as a distance, covered for a certain time, but as a frequency of vibrations that depend on the energy of movement for a certain fragment of space then with lower frequency and higher speed we will have the definition of time according to Einstein's special theory of relativity. In other words, this is time dilation, where an object moving at high velocity experiences a time that ticks slower than when measured at rest. So, if a traveler were to travel into space and back to earth a distance of 1000 light years, with a velocity near the speed of light, they would have aged only 10 years while 1000 years had elasped on earth. An astronaut who spends 53.4 days in orbit, upon returning to earth, is younger by a millisecond than if he hadn't left earth. Therefore, traveling forward in time is entirely possible. But, according to the general theory of relativity, the speed of light represents an insurmountable barrier for any mass to accelerate to the speed of light. As more energy is used to increase speed the relativistic mass increases so much that for it to approach still nearer to light speed it would take more energy than is available in the entire universe.

Special Relativity accounts for the speed of objects as they approach the speed of light, but gravity is not considered. Einstein felt that space and time, or space-time, is curved by gravity, since gravity is equivalent to acceleration. So, if gravity can effect space-time, then it curves space-time as well. Based on this theory, imagine the universe as two parallel sheets. Masses in space place pressure on these two sheets which causes the sheets to curve and bend toward each other. Eventually these two space times meet, at a point, and create a tunnel. Through this tunnel, or "wormhole", an astronaut would be able to travel in space at tremendous speeds, going to distant stars in a life time. There is a theory about traveling through the center of a wormhole to the other side where the astronaut would be in a different space and time.

Another theory of time travel is by "cosmic strings", which are similar to a black hole, but two dimensional. There is strong belief among many physicists that they line the entire universe. When an object passes within the gravitational force of a cosmic string it will become attached to the cosmic string. Then the object can travel at incredible speed and distort the space time that it is in. Because gravity bends time the object would be able to travel through time faster than the speed of light.

When the Big Bang occurred, it is theorized, that both matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts. But, there is such a small amount of antimatter that two things may have happened immediately after the Big Bang. 1.) Matter and antimatter separated to form different regions of the universe. 2.)) We are in a region containing matter, but some antimatter is coming to us from an anti region outside our galaxy. This antimatter would be in the form of anti-nuclei such as anti-helium, anti-carbon, etc. as opposed to lighter antiparticles, such as antiprotons, which are also created in high energy collisions between ordinary matter. A particle detector has been place in space to search for this extragalactic antimatter.

In laboratories, antiparticles are generated by colliding subatomic particles. These are isolated, collected and stored in order to provide high energy antiparticles. So far matter antimatter reactions have been created which produce more power than that of the space shuttles main engine. This is still not enough to reach a velocity near the speed of light. The cost is so high and the yield is so low that this method of providing energy to space engines is not practical yet. But, ionic engines powered by matter antimatter reactions may be possible in the near future.

Parallel sheets of space? Worm holes? Cosmic strings? It seems to me that each of these theories, however touted by the physicists of this world, are just theories. Sheets of space producing wormholes. No evidence exists yet for such a phenomenon. And, cosmic strings, same thing, nothing but a guess. Gravity is the force of attraction between massive particles due to their mass. And, according to the theory of general relativity, gravity occurs when spacetime is curved by the presence of mass (or energy). The theory predicts that the speed of gravity should be consistant with the speed of light. As velocity approaches the speed of light resistance becomes infinite making it impossible to accelerate anything with mass to the speed of light. Light stops in a black hole where the force of gravity probably equals the speed of light squared. And time stops.

However, the special theory of relativity allows for faster than light speeds. For example, with the continual expansion of the universe, new space is created between galaxies. This distance between them may grow at a rate faster than the speed of light because of gravitational pull. In the mid 1970's, a vessel called the Helios was developed to study the sun. In an elliptical orbit around the sun the spacecraft reached a speed greater than 150,000 miles per hour as its velocity was influenced by the sun's gravitational pull.


The earth and other planets in our solar system orbit the sun, while the sun, itself, orbits the entire milky way galaxy in about 230 million years. And, gravity produces a time line around the universe. This time line began as the universe began. So, as an object approaches the speed of light, in reference to earth, 10 years in space is equivalent to 1000 years on earth (see above). This 10 to 1000, or 1%, is in reality almost infinitesimal. In other words, time has stopped for the astronaut traveling at light speed. Time would reverse the instant the astronaut exceeded the speed of light. Upon returning to earth, he would be in a later time than when he originally left earth. The space time continuum, or space time orbit, loops about upon itself so it would be possible to go to any time in the past or future.

In conclusion, I hope that the foregoing material, however deep and forbidding, will give you some idea that man is reaching for the stars in a meaningful way. Little by little, we are beginning to understand that time exists as a function of gravity. Without gravity there is no time. So, by developing an ionic engine, or other means of achieving tremendous speed, and using the gravitational pull of planets and stars, we will reach the speed of light. Then time will belong to us. (Or can it?) Travel into the future is not remotely possible, it is inevitable. But, travel into the past? We have the "grandfather paradox" to think about. Parallel universes? That's just science fiction.


"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40).