There's time enough at last for me to read my first Perry Rhoden
story, named "Prisoner of Time." In it Rhodan's people use a device
that speeds up their proximal clock by 72,000 times. After Rhodan's
people speed up their proximal clock, the distal world moves so slow
that it appears to stand still while distal objects become virtually
immovable due to inertia. To understand why, let's take a look at a
couple of formulas.
We can define inertia as the resistance of an inertial mass to a
change of velocity. Formula 1 shows the relationship:
F = m*a [1]
where F is force, m is inertial mass, and a is acceleration.
Acceleration is defined as:
a = d / t^2 [2]
where d is distance and t is time. The numerator in formula 2 becomes
larger as time t shrinks and causes the denominator to become smaller.
"Prisoner of Time" illustrates the concept in this passage:
Rous looked at the crystal and smiled in relief. "Mr.
Steiner, I already said, that there would be an explanation
for everything. That includes this crystal, which is nothing
other than a very slowly falling raindrop. Consider that
this raindrop falls 72,000 times more slowly than on Earth,
assuming this world has the same gravitation, which seems to
be the case. What does that mean? The raindrop falls about
10 centimetres an hour, based on the usual speed of falling
back on Terra."
They stared at the wonder of the floating crystal, which
seemed to defy all understanding. Steiner was evidently not
completely convinced. He reached out to the raindrop with his
hand and tried to grasp it. But he did not succeed. The
crystal hung in the air as though nailed there and could not
be moved a millimetre. The inertia of its mass had increased
parallel to the retardation of time. One required 72,000
times more energy to catch a raindrop here than on the Earth.
Not even Steiner had that much strength.
*spoiler space*
Wells' "The New Accelerator" [3], written in 1901, may be the
seminal story of the hypertime genre. But it fails to honor inertial
mass increase because it allows Professor Gibberne to move a lapdog.
Bradbury's "Frost and Frost" [4], written in 1946, also fails to
honor inertia. In the story, exposure to radiation causes the survivors
of a rocket crash to live out their lives in eight short days. Yet the
survivors easily open the door of their rocket.
In television it again is "hit or miss" in regards to inertia. The
_Outer Limits_ episode called "The Premonition" [5] honors inertia.
But the movie "Clockstoppers" [6] fails to honor inertia. In it
people in hypertime move distal objects with ease. The _Smallville_
episode "Accelerate" [7] shows raindrops suspended in mid-air and slowly
falling. It fails to honor inertia when it allows people in hypertime to
move raindrops.
So there you have it. Inertia as the key insight to hypertime. :)
Notes.
3.
http://www.classicreader.com/book/172/1/
4.
http://tinyurl.com/nroj9qh
5.
http://tinyurl.com/ouvlqyc
6.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Clockstoppers+site%3Ayoutube.com
7.
http://tinyurl.com/qzktyns
--
,-. There was a young lady named Bright
\_/ Whose speed was far faster than light;
{|||)< Don Kuenz KB7RPU She set out one day
/ \ In a relative way
`-' And returned on the previous night.
What you do speaks so loud that I can not hear what you say. - Emerson.