Macchine del tempo - Tesina

Macchine del tempo

Un passato scritto nelle scoperte del futuro

Le conoscenze, le scoperte e le conquiste cui la nostra evoluzione biologica, scientifica e tecnologica ci hanno condotto, ci hanno permesso di poter viaggiare nel tempo, semplicemente ponendo lo sguardo sempre più lontano nell’universo profondo.

Arianna Masini

Esame di stato – I.I.S. Nobili, 5 L Prog. Brocca

A. s. 2013/2014

Indice

Inglese: .......................................................... 3

Isaac Asimov, About his life and career ................................................... 3

T ..................................................................................... 4

The instability

Comment ................................................................................................... 5

Notion of time ........................................................................................... 5

The idea of “Instability” ............................................................................ 5

Sistemi .......................................................................... 6

Cos’è un telescopio a MRPC .................................................................... 6

Componenti Camere ................................................................................ 6

Sistema del gas ........................................................................................... 7

Sistema di alimentazione .......................................................................... 8

Sistema elettronico di acquisizione dati.................................................... 8

Ricapitolando, dal passaggio del muone allo studio dei dati ................... 8

Fisica ........................................................................... 10

La crisi del tempo assoluto: la Relatività ................................................ 10

Come si fa a guardare il passato?............................................................ 13

Oltre l’atomo: il Modello Standard ........................................................ 15

I Raggi Cosmici ....................................................................................... 16

Extreme Energy Events ........................................................................... 17

Filosofia ................................................................... 19

Che cos’è il tempo? ................................................................................. 19

Conclusioni ..................................................................... 20

Bibliografia e riferimenti ................................................. 21

Pagina 2

Masini Arianna – 5 L - IIS Nobili “Macchine del tempo”

Inglese

Isaac Asimov

About his life and career

Isaac Asimov was born in Russia in 1920.

He studied chemistry at Columbia University, then, he worked at Boston University as a professor of biochemistry.

As a researcher, he was tireless in studying scientific subjects like: chemistry, biochemistry, biology, physics, math, astronomy and mechanics.

He started writing Science Fiction in 1939, his first work “Marooned off Vesta” (Naufragio al largo di Vesta), marked the beginning of a career that counts about 500 stories.

Asimov’s main themes were: the origin of the universe, the impact of technology on our society and the development of artificial intelligence.

The first, supported by his love for space exploration, led him to write stories about the space-time dimension like “The instability”.

The other two subjects, developed from the questions of how a machine works and how robots interact with human, make him to be considered the inventor of robotics.

One of his most famous works about robotics is “I, Robot”.

In his career, he won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Science fiction stories.

Isaac Asimov died in New York in 1992 at the age of 72. Pagina 3

Masini Arianna – 5 L - IIS Nobili “Macchine del tempo”

The instability

Professor Firebrenner had explained it carefully. "Time perception depends on the structure of the Universe. When the Universe is expanding, we experience time as going forward; when it is contracting, we experience it going backward. If we could somehow force the Universe to be in stasis, neither expanding nor contracting, time would stand still."

"But you can't put the Universe in stasis," said Mr. Atkins, fascinated.

"I can put a little portion of the Universe in stasis, however. “said the professor. "Just enough to hold a ship. Time will stand still and we can move forward or backward at will and the entire trip will last less than an instant. But all the parts of the Universe will move while we stand still, while we are nailed to the fabric of the Universe. The Earth moves about the Sun, the Sun moves about the core of the Galaxy, the Galaxy moves about some center of gravity, all the Galaxies move.

"I calculated those motions and I find that 27.5 million years in the future, a red dwarf star will occupy the position our Sun does now. If we go 27.5 million years into the future, in less than an instant that red dwarf star will be near our spaceship and we can come home after studying it a bit."

Atkins said, "Can that be done?"

"I've sent experimental animals through time, but I can't make them automatically return. If you and I go, we can then manipulate the controls so that we can return."

"And you want me along?"

"Of course. There should be two. Two people would be more easily believed than one alone. Come, it will be an incredible adventure."

Atkins inspected the ship. It was a 2217 Glenn-fusion model and looked beautiful. "Suppose," he said, "that it lands inside the red dwarf star."

"It won't," said the professor, "but if it does, that's the chance we take."

"But when we get back, the Sun and Earth will have moved on. We'll be in space."

"Of course, but how far can the Sun and Earth move in the few hours it will take us to observe the star? With this ship we will catch up to our beloved planet. Are you ready, Mr. Atkins?"

"Ready," sighed Atkins.

Professor Firebrenner made the necessary adjustments and nailed the ship to the fabric of the Universe while 27.5 million years passed. And then, in less than a flash, time began to move forward again in the usual way, and everything in the Universe moved forward with it.

Through the viewing port of their ship, Professor Firebrenner and Mr. Atkins could see the small orb of the red dwarf star.

The professor smiled. "You and I, Atkins," he said, "are the first ever to see, close at hand, any star other than our own Sun."

They remained two and a half hours during which they photographed the star and its spectrum and as many neighboring stars as they could, made special coronagraphic observations, tested the chemical composition of the interstellar gas, and then Professor Firebrenner said, rather reluctantly, "I think we had better go home now."

Again, the controls were adjusted and the ship was nailed to the fabric of the Universe. They went 27.5 million years into the past, and in less than a flash, they were back where they started.

Space was black. There was nothing.

Atkins said, "What happened? Where are the Earth and Sun?"

The professor frowned. He said, “Going back in time must be different. The entire Universe must have moved."

"Where could it move?"

"I don't know. Other objects shift position within the Universe, but the Universe as a whole must move in an upper-dimensional direction. We are here in the absolute vacuum, in primeval Chaos."

"But we're here. It's not primeval Chaos anymore."

"Exactly. That means we've introduced an instability at this place where we exist, and that means -"

Even as he said that, a Big Bang obliterated them. A new Universe came into being and began to expand. Pagina 4

Masini Arianna – 5 L - IIS Nobili “Macchine del tempo”

Comment

I feel this story shows the power of science and the courage of scientists, who are often ready to sacrifice their lives in name of what they believe in.

For them, knowledge is more important than life, because life has no meaning without knowledge.

Professor Firebrenner is ambitious, confident in science and his theory, enthusiastic and over-confident in the success of the journey.

Mr. Atkins, opposite to Firebrenner, is more sceptical and rational about the possibility to travel through time.

The end of the story, in my opinion, opens the mind of the reader about the structure of the universe, supposing the existence of other universes which are evolving at the same time of our known one (line 45, to the end).

Notion of time

In this story the classical notion of time changes deeply, according to the laws of relativistic physics: time and space are no more separated, and that means that travelling through time is the same as travelling through space, thanks to a speed close to the speed of light (it will be explained better in the physics section).