Relativity

[lostisgood]

I'm not a physicist by any means, but I know of the theorty of relativity and it seems like that could have a lot to do with what is going on.

Special relativity involves the idea that if you're moving faster than another, time is slower for you. Obviously, it deals with incredibly fast speeds to have any real tangible effect, but a clock moving at a high rate of speed will go slower than a clock standing still.
If the island is somehow moving fast, it might make some sense, but that would be weird (although it could explain why the helicopters and parachuters have had such a hard time getting down on the island).

There is also general relativity though, which involves gravitational time dilation. This is from wikipedia about gravitational...
Gravitational time dilation is the effect of time passing at different rates in regions of different gravitational potential; the higher the local distortion of spacetime due to gravity, the slower time passes. Albert Einstein originally predicted this effect in his theory of relativity and it has since been confirmed by tests of general relativity.
This has been demonstrated by noting that atomic clocks at differing altitudes (and thus different gravitational potential) will eventually show different times. The effects detected in such experiments are extremely small, with differences being measured in nanoseconds.

And the theory of general relativity also says that even weightless rays of light bend in a gravitational field (the way perhaps Daniel said the light was moving weird on the island), and if gravity is such a strong force on the island it might also explain why the helicopters have had such a hard time flying above the island at times).

I obviously have no idea what's going on in the show, but both of Einstein's theories could potentially play a role in the time differential on the island, as well as the odd movement of light.

Anyone have any ideas?

[PacmanIsLost]

yeah the more i've been reading certain theories i think the island is definitely moving and this season has given us two very good hints at this...both the light scattering and time dilation... and perhaps that movement has changed significantly since the hatch imploded because changing the electromagnetic forces would likely change what the island was doing...

it could also explain how the plane simultaneously crashed on the island which then moved, leaving it also on the ocean floor

[varba]

Speaking of the hatch blowing up, why do you think Ben told John that he didn't press the button? I think it's safe to assume that Ben wanted the hatch to implode, but why? How would the hatch blowing up benefit Ben? Maybe it created the time travel ability of the island or something like that.

[greatgodone]

if ben wanted the hatch to implode he wouldnt have hit the button then. i think he told locke that to put the doubt into his head. because with doubt in his head locke isnt as special and therefore less of a threat to ben.

[Archangel-Player]

Hey didn't Doc find that when Einstine travled back in time in the movie Back to the future didn't he find that the two stop watches where 30 mins apart? Or was it an hr?. What Im getting at is that when an object is sent threw time. It actualy looses the time from the day inside the worm hole before entering the destnated time sequant spot. Because your watch would be faster since you traveled faster the speed of light. The watch left behine would be behind yours because the time it reads is at the speed of light andnot beyound the speed of light as yours just travled. Hope that makes sense.

[dpm909]

my guess is the time difference is relative to your distance from the singularity or source of the disruption. So if the ship is 80k from the island, the time difference is 30min, but perhaps the time difference to the closest radio station (australia?) is all the way back to 1937, when Amelia Earhart disappeared (old music on Hurley's radio, news story on ship in find815.com)

I think pushing the button kept the island in sync with the rest of the world, and since the hatch blew up the island is slipping deeper and deeper out of sync, 30 minutes since day 67? ~13 days. Maybe slipping into some sort of vortex?

[dezinio]

Hey didn't Doc find that when Einstine travled back in time in the movie Back to the future didn't he find that the two stop watches where 30 mins apart? Or was it an hr?. What Im getting at is that when an object is sent threw time. It actualy looses the time from the day inside the worm hole before entering the destnated time sequant spot. Because your watch would be faster since you traveled faster the speed of light. The watch left behine would be behind yours because the time it reads is at the speed of light andnot beyound the speed of light as yours just travled. Hope that makes sense.

Yes but you can't travel faster than the speed of light archangel. Hence no time travel will ever be possible. Plus if time travel was possible then someone in the future would have already done it. Time travle is a pipe dream nothing more

[racerx]

I think scientist have made particals move faster than light.Read it a couple of years ago.

[Devi]

Click for particles moving faster than light. (http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae219.cfm)

[racerx]

thanks for that Devi.

[lostisgood]

yea, i think gravity really has something to do with it. it explains a lot (plane crashing, helicopters having hard time, slower effect of time (i.e. Richard not aging, and Walt maybe coming back taller)), odd movement of light on the island, when they didn't push the button there seemed to be a significant change in gravity (but maybe that was just for metal because it was a magnet?), and maybe it even explains why Naomi had trouble landing the parachute safely

oh, and maybe it also explains desmond's boat returning even after he thought he was sailing away from the island. and that would explain why daniel told frank to leave on the same bearing he came in on, no matter what.

[Dzbabykel]

Wow this thread is great! It's way over my head as I was a bio major and was horrible with physics and what not haha....but it all makes a lot of sense for the most part. Its an interesting theory that island could be moving or maybe when the "incident" happened or even when Desmond turned the fail safe key that it caused the island to shift somehow?

[PacmanIsLost]

i like the idea that the island is slipping away in time...perhaps it had always been fine up until the incident in the 80's that then required pressing the button which could have been to keep the island on track...then when the hatch imploded the sky turned purple because the island temporarily moved faster than the speed of light and the purple was low wavelength light as per the cerenkov radiation mentioned in the earlier link in this thread... the submarine could have been a machine for them to travel through a wormhole (which would explain the bumpy ride) and now ben must find a new way to make to effectively move from the island back to the real world...

also...i find it hilarious when people say that things like time travel couldn't be the answer because they're impossible...this is a TV SHOW people! there have been a myriad of science fiction shows, films and books for many years but all of a sudden Lost comes along and it all stops there? i just don't get it...

[Mukara]

Okay, the possibility of the sky turning purple right after the implosion is more rational. This relativity/time span is a little over my head technically, but I do grasp the jest of it. I like where this is going, so could it be that the Oceanic 6 returned to civilization not aged at all. I mean people seemed to be a llttle comprehensive meeting them. Hemmmmmm

[Archangel-Player]

Yes but you can't travel faster than the speed of light archangel. Hence no time travel will ever be possible. Plus if time travel was possible then someone in the future would have already done it. Time travle is a pipe dream nothing more
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You underestmate me my friend. I know that time travel is only a theiory and not a reality. Or is it?. Did you realize that when you get into the car and drive you actualy travel faster in time had you walked? Now think about that and add on yrs of research and tell me if time travling will always be myth.:p No realy in all seriousness. Me personaly. I belive time is something that is meant to continue going. It's not meant to be stoped or speed up. It's something an enity wanted you to experiance as it goese now. There for you will never be able to change it unless the enity sees fit for you to do so.