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Re: Hey Dave (Re: Lost in Space)
Posted By: Tranio, on host 198.36.174.1
Date: Thursday, July 20, 2000, at 12:40:04
In Reply To: Re: Hey Dave (Re: Lost in Space) posted by gabby on Wednesday, July 19, 2000, at 19:20:50:

>>
> OK, that makes sense enough to me
>
> As I try to visualize it at the moment, I think it would make sense if time, as a fourth dimension, were off kilter a bit--that is, not perfectly perpendicular to the other three, and increasingly so with relative velocity. If time is measured by change, then a change in change (acceleration) should equate in some form to a different speed through the dimension of time. Thus, in my mental construct, velocity in a temporal dimension would be analogous to position in physical ones. Whether this is accurate I both haven't a clue and seriously doubt.
>
> gab"I should just read the FAQ"by
>
Actually you're a lot closer to the mark than you realize. There was this physicist guy, Albert something-or-other, who discovered that gravitation and acceleration are the same force. Additionally, strong gravitational influences can have a slowing effect on the relative time of the object being influenced. Likewise, the same slowing effect will occur to a highly accelerated object. (*Note that acceleration is different than velocity.) This has been proven in the case of muons. These are tiny particles that should never live long enough to pass through our atmosphere, let alone actually contact earth. However, due to their extreme acceleration they live long enough (relative to earth) to do so. If you could somehow ride on a muon (yeah, good luck with that), the passage of time would not seem different. However, when you arrived on the ground, time would be later than what you had expected it to be.

So if you want to travel into the future, just drive around accelerating very fast. Theoretically, it should work, providing you've got a powerful enough engine.

Tra "Albert Brooks' (the actor) birth name was actually Albert Einstein" nio