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Can you solve the time travel riddle? - Dan Finkel

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  • 2,481 Questions Answered
  • TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

Your professor has accidentally stepped through a time portal in his physics lab. You’ve got just a minute to jump through before it closes and leaves him stranded in history. Your only way back is to grab enough colored nodules to create a new portal to open a doorway through time. Can you take the right amount of nodules to get back to the present before the portal closes? Dan Finkel shows how.

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Daniel Finkel
  • Director Igor Coric
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Animator Nemanja Petrovic
  • Layout Artist Ivan Zupanc
  • Modeler Nemanja Petrovic
  • Camera Ivan Zupanc
  • Sound Designer Nemanja Petrovic
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez
Additional Resources for you to Explore
What if you wanted to activate enough chrono-nodules to open two doorways through time? What’s the minimum number of chrono-nodules you would need to be sure you could do it? (Assume nodules cannot be used simultaneously in two different portals.)

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Daniel Finkel
  • Director Igor Coric
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Animator Nemanja Petrovic
  • Layout Artist Ivan Zupanc
  • Modeler Nemanja Petrovic
  • Camera Ivan Zupanc
  • Sound Designer Nemanja Petrovic
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez

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