Powering Time Travel

Time travel has been a fleeting thought in the minds of men and women since 1895 when British author H.G. Wells published the Time Machine.

Let’s cut to the chase. Who wants to time travel? Imagine jumping into your time machine and going into the future. Vacationing in 2025, then coming back. You would know sports champions, which stocks crumble and soar, major global events, and most importantly – winning lottery numbers.

Einstein’s special theory of relativity illustrates that time passes at different rates for people who are moving at relative speeds compared to one another. The effect only becomes truly noticeable when one approaches the speed of light.

Doc from Back to Future said we needed 1.21 gigawatts of power to power a DeLorean time machine, but that’s Hollywood.

So, is time travel possible?

We know it sells movie tickets, however, some argue it’s not possible. The faster something moves, an exponentially larger amount of energy (E=mc²) is required to hit light speed. Which is why travelling at light speed requires an infinite amount of energy. An impossibility? Maybe in the distant future, someone will solve that problem. Why do I say that? One simple reason – electricity is the great enabler! Think of what we have today because of it. Limitless potentials exist for tomorrow.

Since I personally don’t have access to 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, I’ll sit back and enjoy that time travel hero, now heroine, Dr. Who, and the best time travel device ever, the TARDIS. Dr. Who? You ask? Dr. Who is right! A show that lets you travel the time vortex saving people and the world with Dr. Who, who has captured the imagination millions of minds. Where does he (now she) get that 1.21 GW from?