What If You Could Stop Time?

If you had a device designed to freeze time

for everything but you,

life wouldn't be anything like what you'd expect.

You wouldn't catch up on sleep,

or rob a bank while no one can stop you,

or cheat on an exam.

Instead, you'd be left blind,

deaf and unable to move a single muscle.

This is WHAT IF,

and here's what would happen

if you could stop time.

We know from physics that

speed equals distance divided by time,

and that time equals distance divided by speed.

To make time equal zero

you'd have to travel indefinitely fast.

And since we can't overcome the speed of light,

stopping time without
breaking the laws of physics

is not going to be possible.

But let's skip the improbabilities

and imagine that time
could be stopped somehow.

People would stop moving.

Water would stop running.

Every molecule would just stand still.

You wouldn't even know
that time had stopped,

because your neurons
wouldn't be moving either.

Boring.

So let's add a couple of
modifications to our scenario.

What if you were the one
to hit the pause button?

Oh, that wouldn't end up well for you,

not this time.

The ability to freeze time

comes with some very
unpleasant side effects.

First, you wouldn't see anything.

That's because stopping
time would stop photons -

the particles of light normally
moving at the speed of, well, light.

You wouldn't hear anything either,

because soundwaves would
stop traveling through the air

to your eardrums.

You'd be trapped in between the
frozen molecules surrounding you,

unable to lift a finger.

It would get even worse

once you realized that you
can't force oxygen molecules

down into your lungs.

Blind, deaf and asphyxiated -

hopefully you could resume
time before you passed out.

To get around this quick and senseless end,

we'll add another modification.

This time you'd be surrounded by a bubble

inside of which time would still be going.

You'd also be able to
time-affect space around you.

That would give you the
ability to move and breathe.

You still won't be able to hear
anything outside of the bubble.

And how about seeing?

Well, you could move along

and capture light from every direction.

But your brain probably wouldn't be
able to decode any of that information.

Everything would be washed out.

Not much fun either.

So what if instead of stopping time

you just slowed it down significantly?

Well, if you slowed down light,

it would shift into the realm
of infrared microwaves.

While it could reach your eyes,

it would be invisible.

Same thing goes for soundwaves -

they'd drop to a frequency below
the range of human hearing.

Time freezing isn't that practical after all.

Maybe going back in time
be would be a better option.

But that's a story for another WHAT IF.