Homework talking about time

runicle

I had a question in my textbook saying "You have a time travel machine and you traveled to the year 1948, explain how the time machine did it?"
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First isn't time constant, a one way street which you can't put in reverse, because there's cars behind you? Second, if that's true wouldn't it be that the time machine didn't reverse time, but reversed the universe not affecting time at all?
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This is an advanced question in the textbook, so could anyone give me some facts or a website so i can research?

*melinda*

Look in the section of the book which is associated with that homework set.

'Usually' the information you need is contained in the chapter preceding the question.

What topics are you currently learning from your textbook?

Danger

Is this a creative writing course, or science? If the former, just use your imagination. If the latter, I have to wonder what kind of textbook you have. You can't build a time machine, so there's no way to explain how one works.

andrevdh

A "soft" start: http://science.howstuffworks.com/time-travel.htm

runicle

Thanks i got it now. Time is a fourth dimension which i find doesn't relate to space. Could it be possible that everything revolves around time? So basically there's only 3 dimensions?

Pengwuino

What textbook is this?

runicle

Its a canadian textbook in ottawa physics grade 11

moose

Throw it away

Pengwuino

ditto.

and burn it. What kind of textbook claims to know how time travel would work?

arildno

This is simply shocking
Lodge a formal complaint to your headmaster that a sub-quality textbook is used in your physics course. .

Pengwuino

I'd like to see the textbook... maybe it was like.... the rough in the diamond? lol. Maybe a typo.... out of context?

If its what we think it is though.... better hope they don't say that gravity works because theres lots of apples on earth.

George Jones

Would you please the title and authos of book, and page on which the question occurs.

My wife's sister teaches grade 11 physics in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, for non-Canadians), and I wonder if shes uses the same text.

Regards,
George

runicle

Well first off it was a trick question and i don't remember, because it was a little while back i had the book.So, that's why the question wasn't worded correctly, because i still remembered some context of the question and i still don't know the answer to the trick question...

Danger

Riiiiggghhhtttt.... now you tell us that it was a trick question. And before that, you had to go and scare the **** out of me by suggesting that a Canuk textbook would have something like that in it.
Until now, I didn't realize that either you or George were fellow Canuks. And by the way, George, my cousin used to be the police chief in Brandon. Should I know you because of that?

George Jones

Really?!

I arrived in Brandon about 5 months ago. Before that I lived in Toronto, before that in West Virginia, before that on St. Croix, before that in Quebec before that in Toronto, before that in Windsor, ...

I try to stay one step ahead of the posse!

Regards,
George

Danger

It was quite a while before that, George. His name is Dave McNamee. And I spent from '65 to '78 2 miles north of Ruthven, 5 miles from Leamington, 35 miles SE of Windsor. (A Kingsville High non-graduate.)

andrevdh

Well, the question got at least one student wondering and investigating, which is more than can be said for most handbooks. Maybe the question was in a chapter that talked about special relativity which will then lead one to think that one should answer the question by explaining why such a machine would not work.