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For a full list of previous issues, go to: "Science Fiction Newsletter - Archives"    September 1, 2011 Editor: EarlyHours-A Vigilante Ranger   Co-Editor: D. R. Prescott   1. About this Newsletter 2. Letter from the Editor 3. Special Feature 4. Editor's Picks 5. Ask & Answer  Time and Space. But Not Necessarily Spacetime This is our second Unofficial Science Fiction Newsletter dealing with Time. The first was: "Science Fiction Newsletter- Oct 2010" . But in keeping with our current theme of exploring the solar system, we'll first look at the space around us, where the other planets are, and how much time it might take to get to them. Our Special Feature explores time itself, and is geared to the writer who wants to emphasize physical and scientific accuracy in their stories. The tasks of understanding time, traveling through it, bending it, and writing about it, are fraught with challenges and paradoxes. Hopefully, this issue will save you some of it when you go about writing your next story! "Space and duration are one." Edgar Allan Poe Pinheads and Peppercorns It is difficult to picture the dimensions of the solar system. The distances between the Sun and the planets relative to their sizes are so ridiculously large that is hard to show them accurately. We have all seen diagrams of the Sun and planets, and almost every high school science class has an orrery*. But even the largest models, like those in planetariums, cannot show the planets far enough apart. Guy Ottewell, in an article on the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's website (noao.edu), describes how to create an accurate representation with a true scale. Here's how: First, gather these objects to represent the planets, and take them outside into a large field: Sun - any ball, diameter 8.00 inches Mercury - a pinhead, diameter 0.03 inch Venus - a peppercorn, diameter 0.08 inch Earth - a second peppercorn Mars - a second pinhead Jupiter - a chestnut or a pecan, diameter 0.90 inch Saturn - a hazelnut or an acorn, diameter 0.70 inch Uranus - a peanut or coffee bean, diameter 0.30 inch Neptune - a second peanut or coffee bean With this scale, one inch represents a hundred thousand miles! In reality, you could go outside and actually do this, but we'll walk through it mentally for now. Put the Sun ball down, and walk away 10 yards. This is where the Mercury pinhead would be placed. Nine more yards – the Venus peppercorn. Seven more yards – the Earth peppercorn. Just think! We are living on a peppercorn, and the Sun, the size of a bowling ball, is 26 yards away! Walk 14 yards more to place the Mars pinhead. With current space technology, the trip from Earth to Mars could take between 3 and 10 months depending on planetary alignment. Now come some astonishing distances. Walk 95 more yards to place the Jupiter chestnut (or pecan if you prefer.) And don't worry if your nuts aren't round since this is just an exercise in relative distances.  By spacecraft, the trip from Earth to Jupiter would take six years! And now for even more amazing leaps: another 112 yards to Saturn (from Earth it would be seven years by spacecraft); another 249 yards – Uranus; another 281 yards – Neptune. Luckily, Pluto has been fired as a planet, because if we still had to include it, you would have to find another pinhead and walk 242 more yards! And by spacecraft it would take nine years from Earth!  Including Pluto, you have walked over half a mile! If you were to look back toward the Sun ball, which is no longer visible even with binoculars, and look down at the pinhead that's Pluto, you would feel the terrifying wonder of the size of our solar system. Still want to go? *An orrery is a mechanical solar system model, first built and named for the Earl of Orrery in 1715 "....in mere Time, all things follow one another, and in mere Space all things are side by side; it is accordingly only by the combination of Time and Space that the representation of coexistence arises." Arthur Schopenhauer, 1813  "Time... is what keeps everything from happening at once" Ray Cummings What Is An Instant? Time mystifies us. It seems to flow from the past into the future but does it really flow? Can time be stopped, ended, or, once started, does time go on forever? Does referring to something before the big bang have any meaning; is that the ultimate before? What is an instant? Time progressing logically is important to keep the reader with you. Usually, it is a progression from one event to another. In science fiction and fantasy, time can be handled in all sorts of creative ways. Star Wars happened 'long, long ago' while Star Trek is set in the future. Many fantasy worlds are created with little or no link to a specific human calendar. In science fiction, however, it is important that time is handled logically so the discerning, science-savvy reader concludes, 'Could be.' No discussion of time in science fiction can avoid the idea of time travel popping up. There is a new television series beginning this fall called Terra Nova in which Stephen Spielberg describes our world as deteriorating about a hundred years from now, becoming unsuitable for human habitation. A family is transported back in time 150 million years to start over and to try to get it right the second time around. It will be interesting to see if they provide a logical explanation of how they travel back in time and how the dinosaurs receive them. Of course, there is the good old "flux capacitor" made famous in that fun romp in the Back to the Future films. One thing that did strike me is an explanation given for how the hero Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) wound up in a strange, dark present, their new now. Brown drew a diagram explaining why the 1985 they found themselves in looked so different than the one they left. I have expanded a similar diagram in Figure 1 to illustrate the problem as it flows through all three films. Starting with a timeline which we can think of is now, we recognize that going back in time on the same timeline is filled with possible paradoxes. One example is the famous scenario of killing your grandfather which means that you would have never been born and could not have grown up to travel back in time in the first place. That is where Quantum Theory and the idea of the many-worlds interpretation helps relieve some devastating, illogical paradoxes. When Marty returns to 1985, things look similar but he discovers that things are not exactly as he left them. He had created a new timeline and would live his life out in an alternate reality unless, of course, he time travels again, which he does. In this interpretation of reality, Marty can never return to his starting timeline because another timeline was created when he and the De Lorean time machine left 1985. In the sequels, the same thing happens when they return to 1985 from the future which is pleasantly consistent, not a distraction for the discriminating viewer. You might suggest that Einstein discovered that you can travel in the future if you travel fast enough to produce noticeable time dilation effects. Unfortunately, once there, you have disappeared from your current timeline for the intervening years and 30 years in the future you may run into your older self. If you try to return to your starting point in time or to any other time past or future, a new timeline would likely be created so even if you returned at the exact same time, you would not be in the same world. There is a book out that is a good primer on what to do and not to do when writing about time travel by Paul J. Nahin titled, Time Travel: A Writer's Guide to the Real Science of Plausible Time Travel. Figure 1: Marty McFly on the move through time and space.  As Quantum Theory matures, what time is still haunts us. Does thinking about space-time—three space dimension plus one time dimension—lead us to considering time in terms of elemental units like Quantum Theory proposes? How about Calabi-Yau space of the other six dimensions that physicists and mathematicians describe as existing in an eleven dimension reality where branes are introduced in the M-Theory integration of string theories? What the heck is an instant, anyhow? While that question may seem obvious, it is more subtle upon closer inspection. How can an instant be measured? Is there any time smaller than Planck's time: 10-43 second? If Planck time is the limit, then an instant must be greater than zero? What happens, if anything, at increments lower than Planck's limit or is it ludicrous to ask that question?
If one is going to write good science fiction, especially related to time, it is usually advisable and prudent to get acquainted or re-acquainted with such physical concepts and leading edge ideas about reality. The good news about science fiction is that there are apparently multiverses of possibilities. So, write about time—past, present, future, or even all three simultaneously—but be careful to ensure that your premise is internally consistent while adding to rather than detracting from your story.  "There is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of space except that our consciousness moves along it" H.G. Wells Some timely Editor's Picks:  Here are contests of interest to our Newsletter readers. Please participate, and support members who encourage science fiction writers in the WDC community!
Stories and Poetry:
 Guest Editors Wanted! For upcoming issues of the Unofficial Science Fiction newsletter, I would like to invite subscribers to contribute. We are currently taking a tour of the Solar System, looking for interesting destinations for our stories' characters. Consider writing a "Special Feature," based on this or any other scientific of sci-fi interest you may have. Don't hesitate to contact me anytime if this appeals to you! -ed.  Last month's Newsletter topic was Gravity in Sci-Fi :31245bob: "Actually, if you go back far enough, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers drove rocket ships all over the galaxy before rockets existed. But cell phones? If we go further back to the funny papers it was Dick Tracy super detective who wore first a wrist radio, then later wrist, two way tv. Then one day some inventor gave the police force antigravity devices to buzz around town in. They looked like an open topped trash can with a pair of crutches fastened beneath the shoulders of the officer who stood inside. The crutch thingys were for control and stability of the operator I think. Now I was wearing short pants in those days but even a little guy like me thought those trashcans belonged over on the Flash Gordon set. Thanks for the info on gravity." Light  : "I perked up when I saw the new issue of the newsletter. If you haven't noticed, gravity is one of my favorite subjects. I don't know if anyone else here is up to a discussion of that subject. But, I have a ruff idea of another way to create artificial gravity (or a gravity substitute). As a warning, it involves theoretical physics."LJPC - the tortoise  : "Woohoo! Congratulations on the 1-yr anniversary of the newsletter! I've enjoyed them all and can't thank you enough for the time and effort you put into them. It's truly appreciated!"  Wrathnar the Unreasonable  : "I've added this newsletter to my favorites. I enjoyed the articles, particularly 'Can we make artificial gravity?' which, gratifyingly, includes the solution I used in a SciFi story about the first manned expedition to Europa, ie accelerating and decelerating at a constant 1G."Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate the feedback from readers. Keep it coming! - ed.  Don't Be Shy! Write Into This Unofficial Newsletter!Reader feedback and comments is important to the Unofficial Science Fiction Newsletter (USFNL). Much of the Newsletter's content is based on reader feedback and discussion. Feedback can always be sent directly to EarlyHours-A Vigilante Ranger , but to make discussion even easier, a USFNL Forum has been set up. Feel free to post and interact at the Forum; some of the discussion may end up here! And don't forget to add the Forum (below) to your list of Favorites, and post often!
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