Reversing time with Bendalloy?

[Fallen Rope]

Could Nicrosil and bendalloy slow everything down so much that you go back in time.

[WeiryWriter]

Moved this to its own thread because it was really out of place where it was.

 

Short answer, no.  Bendalloy only slows time, it can't make it stop and it can't make it go in reverse.  You can, likely, get use it (with duralumin or nicrosil) to get time to go so slow that time appears to stop, but time will still be moving forward.  It's like an asymptote, you can get infinitely close, but you won't ever reach it.

[Moogle]

Possibly an alloy of atium might let you go back in time. I do sort of hope the Cosmere doesn't have backwards time travel, though.

[WeiryWriter]

Possibly an alloy of atium might let you go back in time. I do sort of hope the cosmere doesn't have backwards time travel, though.

 

Well anything is possible, but bendalloy (even boosted) won't do it.

[Swimmingly]

Well anything is possible, but bendalloy (even boosted) won't do it.

That seems a little premature. We haven't even seen nicrosil used yet, and there's no reason that a bubble couldn't jump a couple seconds backwards in time. It would be pretty interesting, actually, since the effect from within the bubble would be that the world outside simply moves in reverse for a moment, excluding the objects inside the bubble, and the effect from outside would be that the nicroburster would seem to teleport to a position where he can nicroburst the bendallomancer.

[WeiryWriter]

That seems a little premature. We haven't even seen nicrosil used yet, and there's no reason that a bubble couldn't jump a couple seconds backwards in time. It would be pretty interesting, actually, since the effect from within the bubble would be that the world outside simply moves in reverse for a moment, excluding the objects inside the bubble, and the effect from outside would be that the nicroburster would seem to teleport to a position where he can nicroburst the bendallomancer.

 

I wouldn't say it was premature at all, bendalloy slows time. Normally time progresses at a rate of 1 second per second, let's say the average Slider can compress time with a factor of 8, so they travel through time at 8 seconds per second (so outside the bubble appears to moving at 1/8 the speed).  Let's say flaring doubles that and the Slider travels at 16 seconds per second, "outside" will appear to be moving at 1/16 the speed.  Now let's look at the case of a Mistborn with duralumin or a nicrobursted Slider, let's say this really magnifies the power it increases it 100 fold.  The Mistborn/Slider is traveling at an astounding 800 seconds per second, and outside is moving at 1/800 of "normal", but it is still moving forward.  There is no multiplier that is going to make it so "outside" is moving backwards, that math just doesn't work.

[Observer]

I'm with WW on this one. Bendalloy compacts time inside of a bubble, with size and compact-ness determined by power. Now matter how much time you shove into a single second, you will never make that second a negative second. Bendalloy seems to work via multiplication/division, like a ratio, not subtraction. You aren't taking time away from others and giving it to yourself, you're compacting the time you already have. If it were subtraction, you could eventually reach a negative number, but in this case, all you can do it move ever-faster in smaller and smaller alotments of time.

[Swimmingly]

The question that would follow, then, is this: How long would that incredibly-compressed bit of time seem to those inside the bubble? Would it flash by so fast as to be effectively useless from their perspective too? It seems like a single instant of effective time-stoppage would only be useful if you plan to dodge a laser or something. And, if it slows things to the point that you can dodge light, then it's gonna have some really funky effects on physics.

[Voidus]

Well given how it's been so frequently theorized to produce ftl travel, and given that one possibility of ftl travel is that you'd go backwards in time, it is possible, but not just by using more Bendalloy no.

[Edgedancer]

The question that would follow, then, is this: How long would that incredibly-compressed bit of time seem to those inside the bubble? Would it flash by so fast as to be effectively useless from their perspective too? It seems like a single instant of effective time-stoppage would only be useful if you plan to dodge a laser or something. And, if it slows things to the point that you can dodge light, then it's gonna have some really funky effects on physics.

All burst created with Duralminium we have seen up until know happen in a single moment, so yes bursting Bendalloy would most likely be useless, unless you have to do something in a very close proximity (dodging a laser or pushing a button) extremly fast to stop something that is far enough away to not be affected by the bubble.

 

Another point against the time travel backwards, is that the metal takes effect inside the bubble and pours more time in, so it really can´t affect the outside.

[The Rangress]

Mathematically speaking, you would have to burn the metal at a negative rate-- and you'd be better off with cadmium, because you can only get time reversed at the same speed with bendalloy. I doubt it's possible, however, to burn anything at a negative rate.

 

Now, here's where I go into time-travel physics. Keep in mind that this understanding is from one documentary.

There is a concept called a light cone. It looks like a four-dimensional version of this:

\/

*

/\

 

The asterisk is the 'event'-- in this case, our allomancer. The bottom cone would have a cross-section of all the space that could have affected our allomancer, broadening as the length of time until the event increases. The top cone is what our allomancer can affect-- and that cone right there is the key to time-travel.

The current theory is that if you want to go backwards, you have to approach a black hole, and the gravity will turn around your light cone until the past event you want to go to is within it. Approaching a black hole, however, is not a good idea.

Thinking of time manipulation as it relates to light cones is pretty simple-- it'll broaden or narrow the constraints of your light cone. So, theoretically, you could go back in time if you broadened the light cone enough that the past was within it.