Time travel is one of the widely discussed topics in the
world. When the term ‘time travel’ comes to the mind, people usually think of a
machine which can travel to the past or future within a moment. But this is
only possible in fantasies or fictions, not in real life. So, is it
theoretically or practically possible to travel into different times?
Basically we all travel with time. Time is running but in a
systematic way. Time doesn’t go backward. Time passes by but within a speed
limit. The speed limit is practically 1 hour per hour, 1 minute per minute or 1
second per second. We cannot change the limit. If we want to make a time
travel, we must change the speed limit of time. What if time travels 1 day per
hour?
Travelling To Future
The great scientist Albert Einstein had developed a theory
that is Theory of Relativity. This theory
describes the possibilities of time travel. It says, when an object travels
relative to other objects close to the speed of light, time will be slower for
it. The speed of light is approximately 300000 km per second. If any object can
reach almost 99.5% of the speed of light, it can travel to the future. To be
more specific, a man has left the earth and traveled to the space with the
speed of light. He has spent 1 year in the space with the same speed limit.
After coming back to earth after 1 year he’ll see the earth has already spent 5
years! His mates, friends have grown older than him. In a gist, he has
travelled to the future. So, traveling to the future is theoretically possible.
But to make it practically possible, we need to travel close to the speed of
light which we haven’t achieved yet.
So, as the man traveled to the future, can he come back to
the present or where he did belong? To make it possible, he needs to travel to
the past.
Travelling To The Past
There is a popular hindrance of traveling to the past and
that is- Grandfather Paradox. For example, a man from present time has
travelled to the past and met his young grandfather. He suddenly killed his
grandfather. What will happen? His grandfather won’t be able to give birth to
his (man) father. So, there will be no existence of his whole family. Likewise
there will be no existence of that man too. Then who went to the past to kill
the grandfather? This is an impossible fact and this is a hindrance to the fact
of traveling to past.
But there also two theories accepting the fact of time
travel- Novikovs self consistency theory and parallel universe theory.
Self-consistency theory: According
to this theory, if any man goes to the past he cannot get into any kind of
activities that will affect his present life. The nature will hinder him from
these activities. So, although he can travel to the past, he cannot change
anything or affect the past world. Mother Nature will play the role of
controlling everything. But this is just a theory.
Parallel
universe theory: According
to this theory, there are different universes for every chance. For, example, a
man just had an accident and lost his eye. There will be another universe where
he didn’t have any accident and enjoying his life with both eyes. Both the
possibilities will go parallel in different universes. This is like a tree and
its branches. As every tree has a lot of branches, every incident can have a
lot of results. And there is existence of parallel universes for every
possibility. So, according to this theory, a man cannot time travel to the same
universe he is living. It justifies the fact of time travel. But this is also
just a theory.
So far we have learnt that time travel is theoretically
possible with many limitations. There are physical and technical limitations. Our
technology is not that much developed to travel at a speed of light and travel
in different times. Even if we invent any technology of that speed, we don’t
know whether we human body can sustain it. Scientists are working with
wormholes (technology for time travel). So, as science is developing our dream
of time travel might come true one day.