Time Travel Experiment Shows Interesting Results

Medicine, Science & Technology Forum

A physics professor will try to turn back time in an experiment at the Miami Museum of Science.

It's back to the future all over again -- at least, that's what Carlos Dolz has in mind.

The Florida International University physics professor plans to take time to task at 10 a.m. Wednesday, when he presents an experiment that involves using acceleration to speed up a digital clock by four seconds.

Dolz's experiment -- which takes six hours to finish -- will become part of Playing With Time, the current exhibit at the Miami Museum of Science.

Dolz, who has been a lecturing theoretical physicist for nine years, really doesn't know where his experiment could lead.

''The point of this is to question how things really work,'' he said. ``This goes beyond common understanding.''

The aptly titled ''Time Shift Experiment'' combines some of the most complicated physics concepts with simple machines and -- Dolz said -- may prove that time travel is possible.

Time shifts are not uncommon, the professor said. There have been experiments in the past that compared atomic clocks on fast-flying planes to those on the ground. The clocks on board the planes showed a slight shift forward, Dolz said.

He said he became even more fascinated by time when he was studying gravity -- he found that he could not truly understand one without the other.

He began fiddling with time shifts in his experiments and was approached by Museum of Science officials in late 2003.

They had decided to host the time exhibit to pique public interest in the abstract concept of time.

''[Time] is a hands-on phenomenon,'' said Sean Duran, director of exhibits at the Museum of Science. 'This exhibit helps [people] to get some of those `big-picture' questions that were posed by the big guys like Einstein.''

They wanted Dolz to come aboard with his presentation.

But unlike the other time experiments on display, which are already proven and made for learning, Dolz's is an authentic first-time experiment made for both learning and discovery.

He hopes to stir up the public's preconceptions about time, gravity and acceleration.

''A big problem for science is common sense. It works for most everything in people's lives, but not in physics,'' he said. ``It's limited to point of view and perspective, [so] it's really not enough.''

The experiment involves putting a digital clock under immense force by spinning it on a centrifuge.

The basic idea behind the experiment is to speed up the frequency of the pulses, or ticks, produced by the clock with force to push it ahead.

Dolz said it takes about six hours to move the clock ahead four seconds.

While past experiments were expensive and produced minimal results, Dolz said he is taking an economical approach and shooting for a range of results.

''He can use very simple tools to come to some of the same grand conclusions,'' said Duran, adding that Dolz's experiment could prove Einstein's theory that time is only relative.

Dolz's four-second time shift, when compared to the plane experiments, is considered a huge change -- so much so that scientists from various universities will be monitoring the experiment to certify the results.

Dolz said he is looking forward to sharing his discovery, claiming contending that understanding time helps people in everything they do.

But in the science world, Dolz has no idea what kind of impact his experiment could have -- much like the great scientists of the past.

''Did [Benjamin] Franklin know that his fiddling around would take us where we are today?'' he asks. ``We may be seeing the beginnings of time travel, but I have no idea. I'm like Franklin, Columbus and [Michael] Faraday: we [just] do what we are capable of doing.''

Source: Miami Herald

Either Carlos Dolz has overhauled Einstein's theory of relativity or it's time for him to fix his clocks.

After a six-hour experiment Wednesday at the Miami Museum of Science, Dolz -- who describes himself as a ''lecturing physicist'' but lacks the degree -- claimed his findings would require physicists to rewrite their textbooks.

Two Casio watches he strapped to a gyrating disk for that length of time appeared to have deviated from the U.S. government's official time -- with one watch running about three seconds fast, the other two seconds slow.

Dolz claimed the effect of acceleration on the time pieces caused them to run both fast and slow, compared to the official clock.

''Time is only a frequency measured at some reference point,'' Dolz pronounced. ``Time is not some mysterious force.''

Barry University physics Professor John Goehl, on hand as Dolz checked his results, said he suspected a mechanical problem with the watches.

''This is not according to theory,'' Goehl said. ``According to theory, these watches would be fast by nanoseconds. No way you could have one go slow and the other go fast.''

A notary was on hand to document Dolz's findings, which he said he had replicated on at least four other occasions.

After the professor left, Dolz voiced disappointment at his naysayer. ''I invited him because I thought he would see this in a more positive way,'' he said.

Dolz declined to say what the extent of his formal training was, except that he did not have a degree in physics. He said he works as a ''professor at large,'' but is not affiliated with a local university.

He said he previously worked at the Coral Castle, a tourist attraction north of Homestead.

Margaret Pulles Machado, a spokeswoman for the science museum, said the institution had some misgivings about Dolz after he failed to submit his résumé but decided to let him carry out his experiment anyway.

Pulles Machado said Dolz led museum officials to believe he was a faculty member at Florida International University. He later said he had only lectured there.

Dolz said his lack of formal training in no way diminishes his contribution to the field of physics.

''The reason I'm going in this direction is because I've had a concept for many, many years that I think clarifies many aspects of physics,'' he said. ``It's gotten me in some trouble a lot of times because people can't handle it psychologically.''

Source: Miami Herald

88 miles an hour!!!

Serious though, this is cool. I bet the MAN comes in and hijacks his work.

-HECK!

Isn't there some kind of physics theory that states with increased gravity comes increased time? i.e. travelling at light speed will allow you to exist either outside of time or at all time?

And then theres the apollo astronauts who are actually younger then their counter parts on earth by milliseconds.

Escaping and altering ones own time is possible, but I doubt I will be able to quantum leap within my own life-time.

since speed is a measurement of distance travelled over time, and the theory is that lightspeed is outside of time, then how can we acknowledge light? How can light's speed be calculated, and why do we think that if we were able to hit that speed, then we'd be outside of time?

Our PERCEPTION of time is quite different than what the REALITY of time is. We see in snapshots. We don't actually compute EVERY MOMENT as a constant stream of light. We compute moments in time. We recognize images; we just do it at a speed that makes it seem like there is no pause in between images. So, while travelling at lightspeed would mean that we would stop seeing, it doesn't necessarily mean to me that we would travel anywhere in time. I can't see how it would... At least, not at the moment...

Tough question. But since it takes infinite amounts of energy to achieve light speed, and infinite mass would then be applied, I guess the theory is that the increased gravity would cause an increase in time. If you think about it, time would be more dense where higher gravitational fields are, theres more stress etc.

Now with that said, I hear the speed of light is not constant. It varies minutely on the medium it travels through, ie. higher gravitational fields would slow the light down sleightly. In fact lightspeed was faster as the world first began, less interference.

Now could you imagine a world without a perception of time?!? To quote velma: Jeepers! That would be interesting to say the least.

How can we emasure light? Easy the time it takes for a particle/wave of light to travel from point a to point b hence the speed is calculated. Sorry for stating the obvious.

I see what you're saying, but I think you didn't quite get my question. I asked how can we ACKNOWLEDGE light, not measure it.

I understand that light speed is a measurement of light's movement from one point to another. That's fine. My point was that if moving at that speed allows for time travel, then basically why isn't light affected by it's own speed? Howcome light doesn't travel through time at a different wavelength than everything else does, since it always (or almost always) moves at a speed where that theoretically should happen?

Does light have a mass? If it doesn't then it would be uneffected by the increased gravity and energy required to travel at said speed. Light could be pure energy and as such a wave length with no mass.

Sorry im playing devils advocate, I see your point too.

I was going to try and simplify what I read on this website but found myself making it more complicated so here is the website

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physi...hoton_mass.html

I was wondering...

Obviously if you are travelling in a rocket that's going at an incredibly high speed then time slows down. The faster you travel, the slower time becomes.

Two questions/thoughts:

- At a certain point, it will be so slow that time would have simply stopped. This means, surely, time is not affecting you - are you immortal??

- After this point, will time actually REVERSE, i.e. go back in time??

I gotta disagree. To the person inside that rocket, time remains the same. Perception of time doesn't seem to alter in such instances. If the clock inside the rocket reads that it accelerated for 7 hours precisely, then the person inside experienced 7 hours precisely.

The effects of time are not linked to light speed, in my opinion. That's just a theory anyways. Maybe I just can't wrap my mind around it, but I don't think it's accurate. That's just my opinion anyways, and since I have no other explanation, I'll go with it for now...