Question about folds in time.?

The basic idea behind “folding” space or time comes from Einstein’s General theory of Relativity, so if you’ll bear with me for a moment… What he proposed was a totally new, geometrical description of space and time that led to a different description of gravity—one that linked space to time and mass to energy in a fundamentally geometrical fashion. In other words, mass(-energy) shapes space(-time) instead of acting like a “force” in the traditional Newtownian sense. This alteration in the fundamental geometry of space-time is often described as the “curvature” or “bending” of space.

(Thus, in Newton’s description of gravity, one would say that all bodies exert an attractive gravitational force on one another; “space” is just the place where it happens. In Einstein’s conception, one would say that all bodies change the underlying geometry of space—and time, too—in a way that causes them to be attracted to one another.)

So we often talk of space-time being “warped” or “curved” (honestly, “folded” sounds a little extreme) by the presence of mass(-energy). The only we see space-time deformed in the Universe around us is by the presence of a lot of matter—light being bent around the Sun, clocks being affected by Earth’s gravity, that sort of thing. To do something similar (like the “Smallville” example) would require very large quantities of mass or energy.

The caveat is that curvature or bending really only provides an analogy to what the equations tell us. If you want to imagine the effects of an object on its surrouning space(-time), then you can think of it as changing the shape of space(-time) in its vicinity. The distortion is real—we can measure its effects—but the images that are often presented (of flexible sheets of space-time with bowling balls or marbles rolling around on them) simply present analogous situations.

The issue with “folding” is that it suggests something like a crease in space-time, and that’s problematic in the sense that gentle “curves” or “warps” are mathematically simple to describe, but adding anything like a hard edge becomes tricky. Plus, to make the transition from one part of space-time to another requires bringing those two points in contact—a challenge that makes “folding” look simple!

J. Richard Gott wrote a book, “Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time” that addresses the “reality” of time travel from the perspective of contemporary physics:

http://www.powells.com/partner/30700/biblio/039595...

Ryan Wyatt

Rose Center for Earth & Space

New York, New York

If I am not mistaken, Quantum Physics has proven, theoretically at least, that by folding space, one can actually more in time backward and forward, and that would certainly be travelling faster than light, in effect. And, further, because it is a natural phenomenon, normal to the nature of the universe, it would not destroy what it is a natural part of. That is not to say that there might be adverse effects to doing it, but then remember that space/the universe is infinite in our estimation. That is pretty huge, so the space that would be effected would not necessarily be a part of travelled space, so humanity might not even be aware or even be able to be aware of the effect. The implication has always seemed to be that the problem would be controlled by the choices made in deciding where to actually do the folding. I always have to remind myself that there is so much more space in space than there are objects in it. It is kinda like when I look at a parking garage where there is only one car on all the floors. The chances of another car coming into the garage and hitting the one already parked there are very slim indeed. And, what kind of damage would there be to the garage, even if the wreck included hitting one of the support pillars of the garage? Not much of an answer I'm afraid, but it's all I've got in relation to events in Smallville. lol

CC Ryder

Sounds like you're describing so-called "wormholes." Although no such thing has ever been found, certain solutions to Einstein's field equations indicate that such a thing is possible. A wormhole basically would be a shortcut between two widely separated places. You can visualize the idea by putting a couple of dots on a flat piece of paper and noting how far they're apart. Then fold the paper back on itself in such a way that the two dots are opposite each other. You'll see that the physical distance between them is much shorter.

Wormholes don't "exist" just in Smallville. Jody Foster traveled through them in the movie 'Contact.'

It is thought that super massive objects, such as black holes, twist space around with them as they rotote, and thus, twist time around as well.

There is a man, who's name escapes me, who is attempting to demonstrate this using light.

Not yet...