• Question: Is time travel possible

    Asked by Seán Kelly to Triona, Julia, Hugh, Emily on 12 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Julia

      Julia answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Not yet

    • Photo: Hugh Manning

      Hugh Manning answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      A type of time travel is possible, but not in the way you see in the movies. When things travel close to the speed of light their internal clocks slow down slightly.

      Einstein’s theory of special relativity holds that time moves more slowly for objects in motion compared to a stationary observer, and experiments have shown this is true. This “time dilation” is most dramatic and noticeable at speeds close to the speed of light, but the effects happen even at the much lower speeds like when astronauts on the Space station are traveling around the Earth at 28,160 km/h. Because of this, astronauts come back six minutes and 13 milliseconds younger after a year in space!

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