The perfect place for ideas that are totally insane, making them far too hot to be thrown away.
By Archaix
#12814
Ok, I had a brilliant idea the other day while deviating from a main subject when talking to a friend. In theory it is perfectly sound, but since I'm far from perfect when it comes to science you'll have to forgive me for the lack of scientific terminology normally associated with ideas such as this.

Sci-fi fans will probably be aware with the certain branch of thought: that if you travel faster than the rotation of the Earth when orbiting it, you may be able to go forward (anti-clockwise) or backward (clockwise) in time. The only drawback is that we currently have no technology or fuel that will allow any aircraft to do this; the absence of this prevented me from posting this in the 'Sci-fi Pond' as I'm dealing more with theory rather than fact.

However, supposing that we had the capability. Is traveling round (perpendicular to the axis) the planet either clockwise or anti-clockwise the only option for the aircraft? Of course not; the globe is spherical. Here are the three options available:

1. Parallel to the axis: the craft would have to travel with the axis -that is, going slightly anti-clockwise to allow for the spin of the Earth, but maintaining a constant so that it is always facing the same direction. This would keep it 'still' in time. Providing that the crew does not die of starvation or run out of fuel, this could be kept up indefinitely since one would not age.

2. Moderately clockwise: the craft would have to travel clockwise, going back in time, but not as steeply as to remain in 'real time', and not to deep as to travel too fast into the past. This is dangerous for two reasons: firstly, one could upset the nature of history (by, for example, telling Julius Ceasar not to go to the Senate on that day, shooting Hitler before he gets involved with the NSDAP, etc), second, it may cause the crew to go too far into their own biological past, eg, into a baby or embyro. At just the right point, the aircraft could encircle the globe for just long enough, and at not too steep an encirclement of the rotation, to make the crew youthful again, but with still the knowledge they possessed during their adulthood.

3. Moderately anti-clockwise: same as before, but inverse. One would possibly see the future up to the point they die, and become older. The threat to causality would also remain.

Reward: A slice of cheesecake and a fruit juice drink of your choice.
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