The DeLorean

[Jonluw]

Hiya escapists.

I have a lot of homework to do, so naturally my mind is constantly finding new things to distract itself with. Here is the most recent one:

In the Back to the future series (a series I, admittedly, do not know a lot about) the DeLorean is programmed to jump through time when it reaches a speed of 88 miles per hour, correct?
As shown when the car was pushed by a train to achieve that speed, it is not neccessary for the car to reach 88 mph by means of its own engine.
Now, as this* song quite conveniently explains, we are, at all times, moving at speeds that surpass this by far.
[HEADING=3]Why is not the DeLorean trapped in a constant time-leap?[/HEADING]

Spoiler: *

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I read this thread too fast, and I got the impression that this WAS your homework.

Anyway, I have no response, because I try to avoid overthinking movie science.

Don't forget the question of "since the earth is always moving, as is the solar system, as is the galaxy, why doesn't the DeLorean wind up floating in space when it lands at its destination time? You know, since the earth/solar system/galaxy isn't in the exact same place 30 years ago as it is now."

 

[Jonluw]

I read this thread too fast, and I got the impression that this WAS your homework.

Anyway, I have no response, because I try to avoid overthinking movie science.

Don't forget the question of "since the earth is always moving, as is the solar system, as is the galaxy, why doesn't the DeLorean wind up floating in space when it lands at its destination time? You know, since the earth/solar system/galaxy isn't in the exact same place 30 years ago as it is now."

It could be programmed to reappear in the same spot, relative to the earth's core.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I read this thread too fast, and I got the impression that this WAS your homework.

Anyway, I have no response, because I try to avoid overthinking movie science.

Don't forget the question of "since the earth is always moving, as is the solar system, as is the galaxy, why doesn't the DeLorean wind up floating in space when it lands at its destination time? You know, since the earth/solar system/galaxy isn't in the exact same place 30 years ago as it is now."

It could be programmed to reappear in the same spot, relative to the earth's core.

Then it could also be programmed to treat 88mph as a "relative" speed.

 

[photog212]

I read this thread too fast, and I got the impression that this WAS your homework.

Anyway, I have no response, because I try to avoid overthinking movie science.

Don't forget the question of "since the earth is always moving, as is the solar system, as is the galaxy, why doesn't the DeLorean wind up floating in space when it lands at its destination time? You know, since the earth/solar system/galaxy isn't in the exact same place 30 years ago as it is now."

Because the DeLorean, had settings for location. They don't show it but Doc Brown talks about programing all four dimensions. Three being location and the fourth being time.

 

[Jonluw]

I read this thread too fast, and I got the impression that this WAS your homework.

Anyway, I have no response, because I try to avoid overthinking movie science.

Don't forget the question of "since the earth is always moving, as is the solar system, as is the galaxy, why doesn't the DeLorean wind up floating in space when it lands at its destination time? You know, since the earth/solar system/galaxy isn't in the exact same place 30 years ago as it is now."

It could be programmed to reappear in the same spot, relative to the earth's core.

Then it could also be programmed to treat 88mph as a "relative" speed.

Eeh... That doesn't really feel satisfying. Well, that other person explained the destination problem in any case.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Eeh... That doesn't really feel satisfying.

It's all you're really gonna get. There's no explanation for it. Even the destination explanation ("all four dimensions") isn't really a satisfying one, because it doesn't even remotely hint HOW that's figured out.

The speed isn't for the car's own benefit, it's for the benefit of the time-travel device. I haven't seen the movie in ages, so I don't know how this is "explained", but it's possible that in order to work, the device needs power equivalent to that generated by a delorean traveling 88MPH.

In other words, you aren't going back in time because you're going 88MPH, you're going 88MPH because that's as fast as you have to go to power the time-travel device. If it were a more powerful car, perhaps the required speed would be less.

Of course, this is all sort of defeated by the train thing, but that doesn't mean there's another answer.

 

[Jonluw]

Eeh... That doesn't really feel satisfying.

It's all you're really gonna get. There's no explanation for it. Even the destination explanation ("all four dimensions") isn't really a satisfying one, because it doesn't even remotely hint HOW that's figured out.

The speed isn't for the car's own benefit, it's for the benefit of the time-travel device. I haven't seen the movie in ages, so I don't know how this is "explained", but it's possible that in order to work, the device needs power equivalent to that generated by a delorean traveling 88MPH.

In other words, you aren't going back in time because you're going 88MPH, you're going 88MPH because that's as fast as you have to go to power the time-travel device. If it were a more powerful car, perhaps the required speed would be less.

Of course, this is all sort of defeated by the train thing, but that doesn't mean there's another answer.

If that was the case you wouldn't need the DeLorean to move though. You could just hook the time travel device up to the engine.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Eeh... That doesn't really feel satisfying.

It's all you're really gonna get. There's no explanation for it. Even the destination explanation ("all four dimensions") isn't really a satisfying one, because it doesn't even remotely hint HOW that's figured out.

The speed isn't for the car's own benefit, it's for the benefit of the time-travel device. I haven't seen the movie in ages, so I don't know how this is "explained", but it's possible that in order to work, the device needs power equivalent to that generated by a delorean traveling 88MPH.

In other words, you aren't going back in time because you're going 88MPH, you're going 88MPH because that's as fast as you have to go to power the time-travel device. If it were a more powerful car, perhaps the required speed would be less.

Of course, this is all sort of defeated by the train thing, but that doesn't mean there's another answer.

If that was the case you wouldn't need the DeLorean to move though. You could just hook the time travel device up to the engine.

But then you couldn't market the DeLorean as a cool toy.

 

[Jonluw]

Eeh... That doesn't really feel satisfying.

It's all you're really gonna get. There's no explanation for it. Even the destination explanation ("all four dimensions") isn't really a satisfying one, because it doesn't even remotely hint HOW that's figured out.

The speed isn't for the car's own benefit, it's for the benefit of the time-travel device. I haven't seen the movie in ages, so I don't know how this is "explained", but it's possible that in order to work, the device needs power equivalent to that generated by a delorean traveling 88MPH.

In other words, you aren't going back in time because you're going 88MPH, you're going 88MPH because that's as fast as you have to go to power the time-travel device. If it were a more powerful car, perhaps the required speed would be less.

Of course, this is all sort of defeated by the train thing, but that doesn't mean there's another answer.

If that was the case you wouldn't need the DeLorean to move though. You could just hook the time travel device up to the engine.

But then you couldn't market the DeLorean as a cool toy.

I guess you couldn't... wait, what? I don't follow? You mean the DeLorean was in the film purely for product placement reasons?

In all seriousness though. I guess having a DeLorean time-machine is a little bit more awesome than just an engine pumping next to some plutonium or whatever.

 

[evilartist]

Because the DeLorean's tires aren't revolving at a speed that would "tell" the engine that it's going 88 mph. Floating around through space really fast isn't the same as moving the tires.

 

[VanQ]

Because the DeLorean's tires aren't revolving at a speed that would "tell" the engine that it's going 88 mph. Floating around through space really fast isn't the same as moving the tires.

I think this is probably pretty close to an actual answer you would get from any aficionado. I personally think it was just a bit of a wow factor thing considering back in the day when BTTF came out, 88mph was quite a feat for any car, let alone a Delorean which is made with a stainless steel shell. Steel is significantly heavier than what most cars use as a shell, not quite sure what that is though.

 

[Jonluw]

Because the DeLorean's tires aren't revolving at a speed that would "tell" the engine that it's going 88 mph. Floating around through space really fast isn't the same as moving the tires.

I did consider this option, but it poses a few interesting questions.
1:Why would he program the time-machine to jump when it noticed the wheels were spinning at 88 mph? It seemed like reaching 88 mph was a physical necessity to enable time travel; not just a cool trigger for the time-travel function.

2:Why do they not just lift the car's rear wheels from the ground, or put it on one of those acceleration-test thingies? Thus they would not need to find a long strait in order to reach that speed.

 

[Socken]

The obvious answer is: Because it's a movie.

The probably more sophisticated answer is: Relativity. It's kind of like that picture you might have seen of a train going at the speed of light and a car inside it accelerating to 60 mph. The car doesn't go faster than light because it only moves at 60 mph relative to its surroundings, i.e. the train it's in.
Similarly, the DeLorean has to move at 88 mph relative to its surroundings. But this is just one possible explanation, because we're still talking about a movie.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Well it is a DeLorean after all. Something probably broke.

 

[Shivarage]

88mph was chosen just because 88 is 2 infinity symbols when you look at it sideways...

edit - or 8 is an infinity symbol, you know what I mean xD

double edit - for those silly peoples, 88mph and a huge jolt (ie plutonium/lightening strike) was needed to gain the 1.21 Gigawatts to power the flux capacitor in order to travel in time, this is clearly a huge amount of power for the time period they were in xD

 

[shootthebandit]

snip

the reason its 88 is because its a joke, the speedometer only went up to 85 MPH so it was impossible to go 88MPH so time travel was impossible

 

[strum4h]

Because where we are going we dont need roads.

 

[The Austin]

Hiya escapists.

I have a lot of homework to do, so naturally my mind is constantly finding new things to distract itself with. Here is the most recent one:

In the Back to the future series (a series I, admittedly, do not know a lot about) the DeLorean is programmed to jump through time when it reaches a speed of 88 miles per hour, correct?
As shown when the car was pushed by a train to achieve that speed, it is not neccessary for the car to reach 88 mph by means of its own engine.
Now, as this* song quite conveniently explains, we are, at all times, moving at speeds that surpass this by far.
[HEADING=3]Why is not the DeLorean trapped in a constant time-leap?[/HEADING]

Spoiler: *

Ughhh.... Because objects on the earth aren't moving because of gravity. We're fixated in place. We just happen to be on a moving object.

 

[Jonluw]

Ughhh.... Because objects on the earth aren't moving because of gravity. We're fixated in place. We just happen to be on a moving object.

We are moving; we are merely not moving relative to the earth's surface. Just because you don't move relative to a car you're sitting in, does that mean you are not, indeed, moving?