Reading for Information

Comparing Texts

Magazine Article: From Here to There: The Physics of Time Travel

By Brad Stone

Will you ever be a tourist visiting the past? If so, would the fate of a prehistoric butterfly actually shape the fate of a civilianization? Critical questions like these have been and continue to be the debate among physicists that study the potential of time travel.

TIME TRAVEL—it’s the dream of every
Science-fiction hack who’s ever picked up a pen, and the fantasy of many of the rest of us, too. How wonderful to go back and right the wrongs of the past! But time travel could also let you go back and cause an accident that kills your great-great- grandfather, negating your own existence and provoking a potentially universe-ending paradox. At least that’s what armchair temporal theorists worry about. But not Paul Nahin. He’s a professor of electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire and the author of Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction. And he’s able to translate into plain English an ongoing, esoteric debate between some of the smartest minds in physics over whether time travel is actually possible. “The laws of physics as we know them now don’t disallow time travel,” explains the 57-yearold Nahin. “Anything that physics doesn’t forbid must be considered.”
Scientific consideration of time travel has its roots, with much of modern physics, in the genius of Albert Einstein, who married space and time in his theory of relativity. Doing further work on relativity in 1948, mathematician Kurt Gödel declared that it would actually be possible to travel through time under the right conditions. Serious scientists didn’t give the matter much / thought until the mid-’80s, when Carl Sagan’s novel Contact sent its heroine on a journey through space-time via a wormhole (a theoretical hyperspace tunnel connecting two points of the universe). That intrigued researchers at Caltech, who three years later released a groundbreaking report on the plausibility of traveling through wormholes.
British physicist Stephen Hawking
has been the most prominent skeptic,
hypothesizing that any attempt at time
travel would lead to a “back reaction,” a massive buildup of energy that would rip space apart. His theory is called the
Chronology Protection Conjecture, since
it would make history safe from explorers who might meddle in important historical events. The best evidence against time
travel, according to Hawking’s writings, is
that “we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future.”
Other physicists, hoping to prove that time travel is theoretically possible, have devised on paper four different ways to do it. But all require unrealistic quantities of energy under hugely improbable conditions.
Each proposal has supporters and detractors. But the one thing that physicists don’t waste much time on is the paradoxes—like altering the present by killing someone in the past. / Nahin says time-travel paradoxes are “manifestations of imperfect understanding.” So whatever the resolution of the time-travel debate, rest assured that grandpa is safe.
After Reading Questions:
1.  (Clarify DOK 1) According to Professor Nahin, is time travel possible?
2.  (Recall DOK 1) Where does the “consideration of time travel” stem from?
3.  (Summarize DOK 2) According to Dr. Hawking, what could potentially happen if someone attempted time travel?
4.  (Make inferences DOK 2) What is something that all scientists consider when thinking about time travel? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Reading for Information

Comparing Texts - Movie Poster for The Time Machine

Common Core Standards: RL. 7 Analyze the representation of a subject in two different artistic mediums.

The Time Machine, written in 1895 by H.G. Wells, inspired both fiction writers and scientists to contemplate the prospect of time travel. This book was so popular with readers it was turned into a major movie more than once. One film based on the book is advertised in the poster below. For more on the original time travel movie watch the movie trailers found @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQuHxL-SAyI

Close Read
Evaluate Details: How would you describe the setting that this movie portrays?
Make Inferences: Compare “The Sound of Thunder” by Bradbury and the main image on the poster. In what central way is The Time Machine probably different from “A Sound of Thunder”?
Assess: Does this movie poster capture your interest? Would it be successful in persuading you to see the movie? Explain your answer.

Reading for Information

Comparing Texts: Extension Activity

Comparing Texts - Movie Posters for Back to the Future series

Common Core Standards: RL. 7 Analyze the representation of a subject in two different artistic mediums.

Nearly 100 years after H.G. Wells wrote his novel on time travel, people have remained fascinated with the idea of being able to go back in time. Below are three movie posters from the wildly popular “Back to the Future” movie series from the 1980’s. As you analyze these movie posters, think about how far scientists have come with time travel. Are we any closer today to being able to travel through time then we were in 1895 when H.G. Wells published his novel The Time Machine?

Interested in time travel? Watch the official movie trailer for Back to the Future (movie #1) @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbT4gf5dw6A

Close Read
Analyze Visuals: How would you explain the settings of each movie poster? What is similar? What is different? Pay attention to the expressions on the characters faces.
Make inferences: What can you infer about each movie based on the visuals provided in each poster?
Evaluate: Do these posters capture your attention? Would you be persuaded to see the movies based on these posters? Explain your answer.
Make Inferences: Do you think there will continue to be books written and movie made about time travel? Explain your answer.

Timed Writing: Performance Task

Short Constructed Responses

Common Core Standards: W.10 Write routinely over shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Literary Text: “A Sound of Thunder”
The assessments you will be required to complete will ask you to shape clear, sensible ideas about a text and support your ideas with evidence. To strengthen your critical reading skills, respond to the short constructed response question below. The Writing Strategies will help you develop a successful response.
Short Constructed Response Writing Prompt:
What theme, or central message, is Bradbury conveying through “A Sound of Thunder”? Provide support for your answer by using evidence from the story. / Writing Strategies
-  A theme is a general statement about life that readers can infer from a literary text. The theme should be stated in the first paragraph.
-  Remember the evidence can be taken from the text in the shape of a direct quotation, a paraphrase, or specific summary. For a prompt that applies to an entire literary work, consider using a summary of specific events in the story, as evidence.
Nonfiction Text: Magazine Article “From Here to There”
Specific organizational patterns, such as cause and effect, problem-solution, and comparison-contrast are used by authors of nonfiction texts to organize their ideas. Contemplate using text’s organization when coming to conclusions about a text’s meaning. Practice implementing the Writing Strategies below when crafting your short constructed responses like the one below.
Short Constructed Response Writing Prompt:
What is the main purpose of “From Here to There: The Physics of Time Travel”? Support your response with evidence from the article. / Writing Strategies
-  Reread the article and look for what the author is comparing and contrasting.
-  In your thesis statement, state the article’s main purpose(s)
-  Always include evidence to support your ideas
Comparing Literary and Nonfiction Texts
Assessments will require students to synthesize the ideas shared in multiple texts. Practice this important skill by applying the following short constructed response question to “A Sound of Thunder” and “From Here to There: The Physics of Time Travel.”
Short Constructed Response Writing Prompt:
Imagine “A Sound of Thunder” were a true story. Whose theories in the magazine article would the plot contradict? Support your answer with evidence from both texts. / Writing Strategies
-  You will need to provide evidence from both the texts to support your response.
-  The connection between your answer and the evidence from both texts must be clear and recognizable.