# Superman, Time Travel, and BZ00000
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 7, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633 "2002-11-07T00:56:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/101 "2002-11-12T04:20:04Z")
Ok, this will help, I think…
Fig 18 on page 27 is easier to use to explain how the graphs work.
Another way to picture this…
You could picture these graphs representing a “movie” about the movements of a dot.
The key feature about a movie is that it changes over time.
This movie would be of a dot moving around in a circle. The dot would go around the circle once every 4 seconds in this case.
Instead of drawing a bunch of graphs or frames in the movie with the dot in a different place in each graph or frame, this is like all the graphs stacked on top of each other, so that the verticle axis t represents time.
Man, this is hard to get across verbally.
I may resort to making a little animation pretty soon.
---
### Author:  [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/102 "2002-11-12T04:25:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BZ00000 \*
> \*\*No, wait, I’m still confused.There is the x,y, and t cordinate system and then inside is another set on lines with more lines inside and the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. What is the top inside line, what is the bottom inside line and what do the numbers 1,2,3, and 4 represent? Are the number seconds?
>
> Thanks for your help. \*\*
Oops didn’t answer the specifics…
Let me start with the bottom line, that is line that would be traced in the x and y axis by a dot moving from the bottom left to top right.
If you add time as a vertical coordinate, the dot would move from the bottom left to the upper right AND be going vertically upward at the same time. That is the top inside line. The 1,2,3,4 numbers do represent time in seconds.
---
### Author:  [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/103 "2002-11-12T14:27:32Z")
I am beginning to believe that this is all a subtle attempt by **BZOOOOO** to get people to do his physics homework for him.
Clever if true.
---
### Author:  [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/104 "2002-11-12T14:39:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by particlewill \*
> \*\*I am beginning to believe that this is all a subtle attempt by **BZOOOOO** to get people to do his physics homework for him.
>
> Clever if true. \*\*
If you saw his stuff from the beginning, you would probably drop that theory… He is actually now doing physics homework on my request (and lots of it) so he can ask intelligent questions in the future.
BTW, BZ… probably should start another thread to ask these questions in.
---
### Author:  [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/105 "2002-11-12T14:47:01Z")
I have read it all. What I am saying is it _could_ be a very subtle and well thought out plan. But then, he is doing his own homework, so the whole thing kinda falls appart.
---
### Author:  [@BZ00000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BZ00000)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/106 "2002-11-12T15:49:12Z")
Last question I will post here, more of a confirmation. I think I was looking at the graph wrong before.
The bottom line is movement along the x-y axis. The top line is then time, but uses the bottom line as a base.
---
### Author:  [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/107 "2002-11-12T15:52:45Z")
Yes, the bottom line is just in the x-y axis… the top line is using all three… i.e. it is rising vertically as time passes.
The bottom line ignores time, or could be considered the shadow of the top line.
---
### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633/108 "2002-11-12T19:01:00Z")
Well, this has been quite a ride! ScottH, I forgive you for dragging my flame into the Coleman lantern of ignorance eradication. There is one item of unfinished business left, however:
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Greyson3 \*
> \*\*How is that word [superfluous] used incorrectly in that context? It is my understanding that superfluous means the same thing as extraneous - unnecessary. Could you clarify for me a bit? I could always use a better volcabulary. \*\*
“Superfluous” comes from Latin and means “overflowing,” in a “my cup runneth over” sense. The proper usage does overlap with “unnecessary,” but in the sense of _exceeding_ what is necessary, rather than being both unnecessary and extraneous. This is not to say that “superfluous” just means “too much”; rather, it means that when used as a substitute for “unnecessary,” it should also carry the sense of “excessive” and not the sense of “extraneous.” For example, “The recent Star Wars movies contain so many CG characters that the real actors seem superfluous.”
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-time-travel-and-bz00000/135633.md?page=5)