Thoughts On Time Travel

In the event that any of you are planning on doing a little time travelling in the coming days, I should warn you about a few things.

I've been working on some of the dynamics of time travel and the various theories as elements of a short-story I'm writing and submitting to a local competition. As with many of my past attempts at a flawless work of fiction, I often build miniature models of aspects of the story to enhance the realism and plausibility of such things taking place.

In this specific instance, using various plans found online, I've began building my own time machine.

There are several theories on time travel, some based on scientific postulates of time, matter, etc and other based on fantasy and ideals which extend beyond the understanding of science. Just last week, while tinkering with my simplistic and erudite time machine concept, I thought of something that I hadn't previously taken into account.

The Foucault Pendulum was first built by physicist Leon Foucault in 1851 as a rather simplistic means of quantitatively measuring the earth's standard rotation. Taking into account several variables, an iron sphere was hung 67m below the Pantheon in Paris, whereas the pendulum's oscillation is a measurement equal to the earth's rotation at that particular latitude. According to the movement of the pendulum and some simple math, Foucault determined that the earth rotated 11 degrees clockwise per hour.

The Foucault pendulum, despite being a simple means of measurement, can now be found in museums worldwide, and if you're in Toronto like myself, there is a brilliant sculpture of it on Yonge St. just south of York Mills, at the top of the hill and across the street from Loblaws on the west side.

Considering what we understand about the earth's clockwise rotation, if you were to travel back in time, even a relatively short time, and we assumed when you traveled back in time that your body did not change locations, then your position would change.

As an example, say you were to hear of a car striking and killing an elderly woman at a specific street corner. Taking into account a novice understanding of time travel, you and your machine would position yourself at said corner so as to go back into time and save the elderly woman from being struck by the car. The problem is, you would be in a different location than the one intended because the earth rotates clockwise. The further back in time you chose, the further away your physical body would appear because of the earth's movement.

Everybody still with me? Okay good.

Let's take this theorem and expand on it, because unfortunately, the earth's axis varies, such that the earth does fully rotate in a 24 hour span, yet as it rotates clockwise, it also dips, rotating in that direction at a much slower clip, such that the duration of a complete rotation is 365 days. This is why we have the 4 seasons, and why the equator is always the same relative temperature, and why we in the northern hemisphere enjoy summer as our friends in Australia and Africa struggle through winter.

Let's apply this concept to a rather simple example. Whether your time machine moves with you or it is stored in a static location, whereas you input the location and are thus sent back to said location, the same problem with movement based on the earth's rotation applies. For a moment, pretend that you have just run the 100 meter dash and were disappointed with your performance. Using your time machine, you travel back in time the 11 and a half seconds it took you to run the race in order to run the race again. Problem is, not only has the earth rotated eastward, it has shifted south at a minute increment, such that as the gun went off to signal the start of the race you would actually be out of your lane and disqualified as a result.

This effect, known as The Coriolis Effect, implies that bodies fall eastward, such as is the rotation and dip of the earth consistent with it's aforementioned description. Other principles also come into effect, such as The Chandler Wobble which is essentially just another variable you would need to account for when determining the location you'd assume when travelling back in time.

Perhaps if I find the time later I will quantify such measures mathematically so as to determine the shift in location relative to the time travelled and the earth's rotation. There may be some linear algebra involved so bear with me, it could take sometime. Just remember, in the event you plan on travelling back into time, take all variables into account so as to ensure a safe passage.