Research Paper on Time Travel: Ideas for Modern Physics

[sweetvirgogirl]

do you think it's a good idea to write a 10 page research paper on time travel?

if not on time travel, could you possibly suggest something in modern physics that i can easily write a research paper on?

 

[abszero]

Time travel is to modern physics as the Loch Ness monster is to zoology.

What are you interested in? There's a plethora of topics, ranging from the basics of band-gap theory and semiconductors to field theory and frontiers in quantum gravity. What class is this for, and maybe that'll give us a better idea of what you're looking for.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Time travel is to modern physics as the Loch Ness monster is to zoology.

What are you interested in? There's a plethora of topics, ranging from the basics of band-gap theory and semiconductors to field theory and frontiers in quantum gravity. What class is this for, and maybe that'll give us a better idea of what you're looking for.

is there any way we can talk one on one? like on aim or yahoo or something?

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

I need help writing papers for modern physics

No, I'm not going to tell you to write them for me or anything

I just need someone to discuss a couple of things with me before I even start doing research, because I want to make sure I'm going in right direction.

So if you're good at phys as well as writing papers, can you please I am me or something?

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

btw my sn on yahoo/aim is pvirgohere

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

my sn on yahoo/aim is pvirgohere

 

[Pengwuino]

What class is this for?

The only real world theories for time travel are VERY abstract and complicated...

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

What class is this for?

The only real world theories for time travel are VERY abstract and complicated...

Well ... can i possibly have a chat with you on yahoo/aim/msn?

 

[emptymaximum]

well well well.
look who i found

 

[emptymaximum]

while actual 4-th dimensional travel is abstract, there are some real world phenomena that would be akin to time-travel.
like the twins paradox.
or the e^+ being equivalent to an e^- going backwards through time.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

well well well.
look who i found

...

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

can someone please I am me?

I'm really lost! I need to discuss a couple of things!

 

[harsh]

Hi, I can help you write your paper, but I don't have yahoo messenger. Why not post your topic here, and I can suggest a few things. Also, if you can post the details of the specifics of the paper, that would be good too.

- harsh

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Hi, I can help you write your paper, but I don't have yahoo messenger. Why not post your topic here, and I can suggest a few things. Also, if you can post the details of the specifics of the paper, that would be good too.
- harsh

do you have aim? ... or even msn?

there is a reason I can't post specifics of the paper here

 

[OptimusPrime]

Like what?

 

[Dale]

Academic manuscripts in pretty much all scientific fields follow the same general layout. Read a lot of papers from the journal that you are going to submit to and you will get the idea about the organization. Abstract, Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References is pretty standard.

Some key points: the abstract is the most important part. Intro sets up the motivation talk about the state-of-the-art and the work of others. Methods includes theory and experimental set-up, particularly important is a discussion of your planned analysis and statistical methods. Results are just the observations from your experiments, the most difficult point here is to avoid any and all discussion, i.e. tell what you observed, but never any implications. Discussion is where you talk about the implications of your observations and put it in the context of the current state-of-the-art. Conclusion is a short paragraph on the take-home message.

Always exactly follow the "style guide" for the journal to which you are submitting. Reviewers can get irritated if you don't and irritating a reviewer never helped a manuscript get published. Also, always get as many co-workers and advisors as possible to look over a manuscript before submission.

-Dale

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

I'm writing a paper on time travel ... and I'm kinda stuck! Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Removed the obnoxious font size.

 

[Maxwell]

Wow, was that ever the wrong way to ask! What, exactly, are you stuck on??

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Wow, was that ever the wrong way to ask! What, exactly, are you stuck on??

I'm sorry ... I didnt mean to be rude or anything.

The problem is I can't seem to focus. I'm writing my paper on time travel, but I need a thesis ... a focus. Right now, I have no ideqa what I'm writing about.

Can I get your sn on aim?

 

[Tide]

Perhaps you could address the following conundrum:

A time traveller goes from point (x1, t1) to (x2, t2). Does she pass through all times between t1 and t2? What do observers between the two points see?

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Perhaps you could address the following conundrum:
A time traveller goes from point (x1, t1) to (x2, t2). Does she pass through all times between t1 and t2? What do observers between the two points see?

i have to write 12 pages! lol

 

[Tide]

It was just a thought! :)

 

[Vixus]

I think you'd have to think about the arrow of time in terms of the universe, the second law of thermodynamics and our local time. I know I'm being a bit vague, but there is stuff on this.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

I think you'd have to think about the arrow of time in terms of the universe, the second law of thermodynamics and our local time. I know I'm being a bit vague, but there is stuff on this.

yeah i need more specific help than that lol

 

[chroot]

You need to ask more specific questions.

- Warren

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

You need to ask more specific questions.

- Warren

you're right

I need to write a 12 page research paper on time travel ...

i need help developing thesis statement/question ... or just an argument in general

my prof suggested to include movies ... I'm not sure if that's a good idea

 

[Moonbear]

Since this question was asked in two different places, and already received some responses in both places, I've merged the two threads. In the future, only ask your question in one place.

If you want help, you need to explain more about your assignment and explain your efforts so far. Do not expect people to contact you via IM on this. People come to this forum for help on this forum. If you can't explain your question here, then we'll be happy to close the thread for you since it can't go anywhere without more input on your end.

 

[Maxwell]

And please include what level you want help at. You're obviously in college (you mentioned "professor"), so what type of class is this for? Is this for a modern physics class?

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

And please include what level you want help at. You're obviously in college (you mentioned "professor"), so what type of class is this for? Is this for a modern physics class?

it's for a humanities class

 

[Pengwuino]

You really do need to post specifics about this paper or else no one is going to help you.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

You really do need to post specifics about this paper or else no one is going to help you.

I need to write a 12 page research paper on time travel for a humanities class ...

i need help developing thesis statement/question ... or just an argument in general

my prof suggested to include movies ... I'm not sure if that's a good idea

i might need to be more specific than that, I don't know ... I usually have hard time presenting my thoughts ... if you are still confused about my assignment, please let me know and i'll try to explain it more in detail :(

 

[Pengwuino]

Well what do you want to know about? What are you trying to present?

Why it may be possible? Why it may not be possible? Theories behind possible time travel? Just a history of time travel theories?

I'm not sure why this professor wants movies because even the utmost ignorant professor should know movies are about as accurate as... hmm.. can't think of a good analogy but they are very inaccurate! Or well, I'm not sure, there have been a lot of very accurate movies when it comes to things like history... but movies with science in them are almost always dead wrong or way off the mark.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Well what do you want to know about? What are you trying to present?

Why it may be possible? Why it may not be possible? Theories behind possible time travel? Just a history of time travel theories?

I'm not sure why this professor wants movies because even the utmost ignorant professor should know movies are about as accurate as... hmm.. can't think of a good analogy but they are very inaccurate! Or well, I'm not sure, there have been a lot of very accurate movies when it comes to things like history... but movies with science in them are almost always dead wrong or way off the mark.

i can present anything i want

and what my prof wanted me to do is to use my knowledge on time travel and dissect Back to the Future (i presume on a philosophical level rather than scientific level)
now what my poor soul doesn't understand is how can i write 12 pages on that?!

 

[Pengwuino]

Sounds kinda stupid to be honest...

12 pages from a philisophical angle still seems like an insurmountable task. I mean all you can really ask are questions and I wouldn't think there's much out there to help answer or even think about those questions.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

i'm tryin to come up with a good thesis statement as of now

 

[Tide]

it's for a humanities class

Oh, then that opens up even more possibilities! A variation on the grandfather paradox is always good - traveler goes back in time and prevents her grandparents from ever meeting etc. Or the causality paradox where the same traveler goes back in time to prevent her grandparents from meeting but ends up causing them to meet.

 

[George Jones]

Time travel is discussed from a variety of perspectives in "Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction" by Paul J. Nahin, which is a wonderful book. Kip Thorne, a first-rate relativistist at Cal Tech, wrote a foreword for the second edition of this book. Here's a quote from his foreword: "It now is not only the most complete documentation of time travel in science fiction; it is also the most thorough review of serious scientific literature on the subject - a review that, remarkably, is scientifically accurate and at the same time largely accessible to a broad audience of nonspecialists."

See if your library has a copy of the second edition of this book; if not, get it through interlibrary loan. I think you'll find that this book has more than enough material for your paper.

Also, someone put the latest edition (Jan.? Feb. ?) of Astronomy Magazine on my desk today, and I noticed that the cover article is about time travel.

Regards,
George

 

[nbo10]

Ohh come now, you should be able to write a book on "Back to the Future". Pick something, it doesn't matter what, it's a humanities class. Make "something" up and justifiy that "something". It has nothing to do with physics.

Here's your thesis, just flush it out.

Back to the Future is the greatest movie ever, it has many deep philosophical levels. // Note the sarcasm

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Sounds kinda stupid to be honest...

12 pages from a philisophical angle still seems like an insurmountable task. I mean all you can really ask are questions and I wouldn't think there's much out there to help answer or even think about those questions.

i got to do what i got to do :(

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Time travel is discussed from a variety of perspectives in "Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction" by Paul J. Nahin, which is a wonderful book. Kip Thorne, a first-rate relativistist at Cal Tech, wrote a foreword for the second edition of this book. Here's a quote from his foreword: "It now is not only the most complete documentation of time travel in science fiction; it is also the most thorough review of serious scientific literature on the subject - a review that, remarkably, is scientifically accurate and at the same time largely accessible to a broad audience of nonspecialists."
See if your library has a copy of the second edition of this book; if not, get it through interlibrary loan. I think you'll find that this book has more than enough material for your paper.
Also, someone put the latest edition (Jan.? Feb. ?) of Astronomy Magazine on my desk today, and I noticed that the cover article is about time travel.
Regards,
George

i do have Time Machine by Paul J Nahin right in front of me, but I think I have the first edition ... it should still work though

so suggest me a thesis statement please :(

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Ohh come now, you should be able to write a book on "Back to the Future". Pick something, it doesn't matter what, it's a humanities class. Make "something" up and justifiy that "something". It has nothing to do with physics.

Here's your thesis, just flush it out.

Back to the Future is the greatest movie ever, it has many deep philosophical levels. // Note the sarcasm

yeah lol i was thinking something like "why do scifi movies portray time travel in such a wrong/weak way?"

and my friend was like ... "they're called FICTION for a reason"

I think he has a point :(

 

[Curious3141]

If you want an ethical dilemma (always good for a humans class), try this one : supposing time travel to the past were possible and you could alter history but not know the ramifications beforehand - would you go back in time to assassinate Hitler as a baby ? As a young adult before his ascent to power and before he committed genocide and started the second world war ?

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

If you want an ethical dilemma (always good for a humans class), try this one : supposing time travel to the past were possible and you could alter history but not know the ramifications beforehand - would you go back in time to assassinate Hitler as a baby ? As a young adult before his ascent to power and before he committed genocide and started the second world war ?

a very good idea ... but i think my teacher won't be very happy if i take it more towards history and ethical dilemma
see what i mean?
like the thesis you suggested is great, but it's not about time travel or sci fi or anything ... it's about hitler

 

[Maxwell]

like the thesis you suggested is great, but it's not about time travel or sci fi or anything ... it's about hitler

It most certainly is about time travel. You don't have to focus on Hitler, just on the ramifications of traveling back in time and potentially altering history. Explore the different paradoxes of time travel.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

It most certainly is about time travel. You don't have to focus on Hitler, just on the ramifications of traveling back in time and potentially altering history. Explore the different paradoxes of time travel.

i see what you're saying ... but then why involve hitler? to make it spicier? (it also might be misleading ... but maybe not ... depends on how my prof views it)

also, just exploring different paradoxes won't help me cover 12 pages ... because there arent many paradoxes .. in fact there is just one BASIC paradox ... correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Maxwell]

i see what you're saying ... but then why involve hitler? to make it spicier? (it also might be misleading ... but maybe not ... depends on how my prof views it)

No, as an example of going back in time and making an insanely drastic change to history. I'd say killing Hitler as a child would effectively be the same thing as "re-writing" a good amount of history. Hitler is only one such example -- there are plenty -- Washington, Napoleon, Jesus, etc.

also, just exploring different paradoxes won't help me cover 12 pages ... because there arent many paradoxes .. in fact there is just one BASIC paradox ... correct me if I'm wrong

You're very wrong. Plus, you can spend a good portion discussing different methods of time travel, why it is or isn't physically possible, types of research going into time travel and other theories. Just think a little.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel-phys/
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/time_travel.html
Etc.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

No, as an example of going back in time and making an insanely drastic change to history. I'd say killing Hitler as a child would effectively be the same thing as "re-writing" a good amount of history. Hitler is only one such example -- there are plenty -- Washington, Napoleon, Jesus, etc.
You're very wrong. Plus, you can spend a good portion discussing different methods of time travel, why it is or isn't physically possible, types of research going into time travel and other theories. Just think a little.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel-phys/


http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/time_travel.html
Etc.

well what i meant was ... the basic paradox is the changes you make in past, how do they affect the present... or do they?
now there are several catogaries ... like granny paradox etc or killing your younger self ...
yeah i know people think there are tons of paradoxes ... but when i think about them ... they just seem to me as different forms of the same paradox ... if you know what i mean

 

[Vixus]

yeah i know people think there are tons of paradoxes ... but when i think about them ... they just seem to me as different forms of the same paradox ... if you know what i mean

Uh... that's like saying pies and jelly are different forms of dessert.

 

[Pengwuino]

I don't buy this whole grandfather paradox crap. It seems like the very fact that you exist in a different time, the very fact that you move a molecule or fart in the wind could destroy all of history or something insane like that. It seems like if you walked up to your grandfather and tapped on him or closed a door behind him or any slight as hell thing and you could move some molecule or move some sperm a hundredth of an inch making it so that you arent the result of the sperm and egg that you eventually came out of. Everyone seems to take this paradox as involving these large single objects called "humans" and "animals" and what not. I see it as tremendous numbers of moving molecules and killing a human for the 'grandfather paradox' or whatever mainstream idea is the equivalent to just pushing someone in my view or even raising the temperature of the air around them.

If we look at this from a quantum mechanical view, it sounds like the universe would have to re-run the odds all over again unless there is some sort of system that indeed does turn quantum physics into something that is not based on probabilities, the universe would statistically have to be completely different. The smallest deviation when these probabilities are 'run' seems like it would just spread and multiply like a virus unless there woudl be some sort of dampening effect towards some sort of semi-pre-determined state of history which i can't think of at 8am in the morning with no sleep behind me.

ahhhh!

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

I don't buy this whole grandfather paradox crap. It seems like the very fact that you exist in a different time, the very fact that you move a molecule or fart in the wind could destroy all of history or something insane like that. It seems like if you walked up to your grandfather and tapped on him or closed a door behind him or any slight as hell thing and you could move some molecule or move some sperm a hundredth of an inch making it so that you arent the result of the sperm and egg that you eventually came out of. Everyone seems to take this paradox as involving these large single objects called "humans" and "animals" and what not. I see it as tremendous numbers of moving molecules and killing a human for the 'grandfather paradox' or whatever mainstream idea is the equivalent to just pushing someone in my view or even raising the temperature of the air around them.
If we look at this from a quantum mechanical view, it sounds like the universe would have to re-run the odds all over again unless there is some sort of system that indeed does turn quantum physics into something that is not based on probabilities, the universe would statistically have to be completely different. The smallest deviation when these probabilities are 'run' seems like it would just spread and multiply like a virus unless there woudl be some sort of dampening effect towards some sort of semi-pre-determined state of history which i can't think of at 8am in the morning with no sleep behind me.
ahhhh!

thats what i meant ... it all comes down to one basic paradox ...

anyway ... PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY PAPER ... It'll be such a big favor :(