Hey Bill Nye: 'How Much Energy Would It Take to Power a Time Machine?'' #TuesdaysWithBill

Hey Bill Nye: 'How Much Energy Would It Take to Power a Time Machine?''

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Bill Nye takes on the sticky science of time travel as imagined by science-fiction writers. While we don't have any solid leads on a time machine, Japanese physicists have shown that time travel is theoretically possible if you travel in a ship at the speed of light. There are two restrictions: (1) You could only travel back in time to the point at which the ship you're traveling in was created and (2) the amount of energy required to power the machine, enough to get the craft to the speed of light, could stretch your body such that, well, it's not a happy ending, says Nye.

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BILL NYE:

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.

In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle’s home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live.” This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®” was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate.

While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children’s books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.”

Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries” airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye” airs on PBS stations across the country.

Bill’s latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens.” It’s about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you’ll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There’s also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It’s fun for him; he’s an engineer with an energy conservation hobby.

Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world’s largest space interest organization.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Emre: Hi Bill Nye. My name is Emre. I thought of a time machine that basically ran on all the data based on your brain, so it basically calculated all the information on your brain and all the data in your life and it would create a vortex, which you would go back through and you would go back in time, so it's a time machine. Now I was thinking that if you went back once you would have the memory of going back so that would create another vortex in which you would go through again and once you got to the dimension, which was in the past, the other time machine, with your memory, would, because you're the person, it would also form another vortex, which you'd go through and you keep going through infinite vortexes until you were lost and come in infinite space and time. Now, my question is would it be possible to generate enough electricity to be able to create another vortex, which would accelerate time and bring you and generate enough power to bring you back, all the way back to your time and keep it stable with the time machine and you? So could you please answer that...

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