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Time travels







 concept 28
by CCPT



We are building a clock that counts seconds. The number shown in the white bar shows the number of seconds that have passed since the clock started. To the right of the decimal point, fractions of seconds are shown. As time passes, all digits smoothly roll down and the 0's are replaced by 1's, the 1's by 2's, up to the 9's and then back to the 0's.

Each digit rolls at a fixed and unique speed. The first digit to the left of the decimal point rolls down at a speed of 1 digit per second. Since the digits have a height of 4mm (including a little bit of whitespace at the top and bottom), the actual speed of this digit is 0.0144 km/hr.

The next digit to the left of it has a rolling speed of 0.1 digit per second = 0.00144 km/hr. The digit to the right of the decimal point has a speed of 10 digits per second = 0.144 km/hr. And so on.

The following speeds are marked on top of the clock bar (from left to right, slow to fast): Note that the speed of time depends on your perspective and your speed. In our daily life, the speed of time is 1 'hr/hr'. However, for the observer of a traveller travelling at light speed, the traveller's speed of time is 0 hr/hr (since at the speed of light, time appears to stand still at the traveller). That means the 11th digit to the right of the decimal point will always remain at 0!

According to some —admittedly speculative— mathematical models in physics, the digits to the right of the 11th digit could theoretically reverse time: speed becomes negative and the digits will roll up instead of down. Going faster and faster back in time for digits further to the right. Will it flip back to 'forward' time again at 2x light speed, back again at 3x, etc.? Or will causality violations destroy the clock altogether? We will know it when we build it.

The t-shirt represents the infinitely short moment in time where the clock has started, but none of the digits have moved yet. Nonetheless: the digits already have their speeds.

Enjoy wearing the Speed of Time. T-shirt available in our boutique as