Researchers speculate that, in a model theory, time travel is possible - the theory is set out in the following link:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4097258.stm
The possibilities would be endless - so why not take the opportunity to stretch your imagination for a few minutes.
There are no right or wrong answers, everyone comes up with different answers, and it can give a revealing insight into a persons' personality and interests
These are the rules:
- You can choose just three times / places to visit
- Your visits must be back in time (not forward)
- You can only observe from a safe distance (a fly on the wall view) - you cannot interact or change events
- You cannot use the visits to achieve personal wealth - only to gain knowledge / experience of historical events / characters
- Visits must be to earth (and it's moon) only and you cannot go back to any point prior to the existence of the fully formed planet Earth
- Your time machine can be programmed to visit a specified event / person - even if you don't have an exact date
After much deliberation, these are my top three choices:
1 - The Demise of the Dinosaurs
My time machine would take me to a time of apocalypse.
What killed off such a successful, varied species who had dominated the planet for 160 million years?
Here are just a few of the great many theories regarding the demise of the dinosaurs
- The collision of a large meteor with the earth
- Extreme volcanic / super volcano activity
- A reduction in volcanic activity, which led to dramatic climate change (planetary cooling) and significantly reduced oxygen levels
- Bizarre and disadvantageous genetic mutations
- A magnetic pole flip
- An increase in earth's gravity and reduced oxygen levels
It is the last theory which is of particular interest, and one which many people may not have even heard of.
The pre-historic age was a time of giants, giant plant-life, insects and creatures.
The following sketch shows the astounding scale of a Sauroposeidon dinosaur.
A valid question to ask is - why then, do we not have modern land living species on the scale of those found on pre-historic Earth?
Evolutionary theory may suggest that there was no necessity or advantage to growth, human species supremacy was achieved by development of the cerebral cortex, brains over brawn, however, this cannot be said for other species.
There may be a simple explanation for this enigma - gravity limits size - theories suggest that gravity today would make it impossible for large creatures such as the Sauroposeidon to move or even breath.
I have included two links below to set out illustrate this point:-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1913389/posts
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026763.800-were-pterosaurs-too-big-to-fly.html
The burning question therefore is how and when did earth's gravity increase, and could this be a valid explanation for the demise of the dinosaurs?
Gravity is a universal force that remains an enigma to scientists.
On a large (planetary) scale, mathematical models have been created which seem to be accurately supported by what we can see in our surrounding universe.
However, on a quantum scale, gravity behaves very differently and cannot currently be adequately explained. A valid gravitational theory has become the holy grail of quantum physicists.
With such a lack of understanding of the fundamental nature of gravity, it would be difficult to ascertain the cause or reason for an increase in earth's gravity.
There is however a theory which would explain increased gravity within the realms of our current model - ie gravity is directly linked to mass - if the earth had grown, considerably, the mass increases and therefore gravity would increase proportionally.
Is it feasible that at some point in history, the earth expanded and grew, increasing gravity?
The following link is to a theory regarding expanding earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgidAICoQI
If earth grew, then all other planets within the solar system would have had to have grown proportionally to remain in constant orbital positions to the sun - but where could the matter come from to achieve growth? - the accumulation of matter would be difficult to explain in anything other than a living organism - is our planet a living organism? Do we know enough about the universe to reject this idea out of hand?
I would note that there is an abundance of information both in support and opposition to this theory should you chose to research this subject further.
I recently came across a couple of articles which could also potentially support an expanding earth theory
Article 1 - New Scientist reports upon how gravity is mysteriously disappearing from our universe
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18524872.100-the-mystery-of-disappearing-gravity.html
