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Supposedly I found a phone booth that can transport user 65 millions years into the past (location fixed at Chixulub just 30 minutes before the announcement of the arrival of the impactor.

Points to note regarding the unique phone booth as follows:

  1. 1 pax.
  2. Phone booth along with it's user are instantaneously traversed through time to the preset location at the moment the user hears the white noise from the telephone.
  3. To return to the correct (original) timeline user simply hang up the telephone.
  4. Conveniently the phone booth can also automatically return itself to the correct timeline when the receiver is accelerated towards the ground at exactly 1g for at least 1700 milliseconds. (Hence ride comes with height req)
  5. No known force in the known universe can destroy the phone booth. (T&C applies.)
  6. The invincibility does not apply to the occupant including the differences of air and temperature etc.
  7. There are clear windows plane on all sides meant for window shopping by the native animals.

How can I with a budget of USD$2000 and access to all commercially available tech/product sold at Walmart in today USA or any non suspicious hypermarket elsewhere in the world convince my client to take up the greatest adventure of a lifetime? (assuming they are willing to share the same fate of the dinosaurs 65 mya!) Some handwavium applies for the progression of the story.

Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐

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  • $\begingroup$ A time machine like this can only be used once if the location & its time of arrival are fixed. Unless the remarks about "correct timeline" imply the booth travels to the Cretaceous on other timelines. If this is so, edit your question to make this point clear. Points 4 and 7 don't make sense, either edit them for clarity or delete them. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 13:25
  • $\begingroup$ @a4android: pt 4 is my insurance so that I can recover my priceless phone booth in the event the user is MIA/KIA. Pt 7 is just to illustrate that other animal can clearly see the interior therefore upon impact gamma energy can vaporise the occupants even when the door is shut. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 13:31
  • $\begingroup$ I had suspected something like that, but this was hard to be sure due to the meandering obscurantism of how it was phrased only hurt my tired brain. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 13:39
  • $\begingroup$ 1) If the booth is in free fall, then the force noted inside the booth is 0. At most, it would feel the force exerted by the air slowing the fall. 2) Even ignoring 1), the value of g varies with attitude and even at sea level, at different places of Earth. Not much, certainly, but you said "exactly 1g". 3) The closer to the Equator you are, the more you feel the centrifugal force of Earth rotation, further altering "g" (this is one reason so many rocket launching sites are near the Equator). $\endgroup$
    – SJuan76
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 21:24
  • $\begingroup$ @SHaun76: actually the booth is stationary, I'm referring to the user involuntarily dropping the telephone instead of hanging up you know the thing with a mic and a speaker at opposite ends. $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 0:16

1 Answer 1

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One thing that you would need is an Oxygen supply, some recent studies concluded that the O2 levels during the Cretaceous were lower than previously thought. https://www.uibk.ac.at/public-relations/presse/archiv/2013/466/ The study done by collecting air bubbles trapped in Amber suggests levels of 10-15% much lower than today's 20%. A traveller would have difficulty breathing, similar to mountain climbers going to high altitudes. I live in the UK so am not fully familiar with what is in stock in Walmart and their prices but something might be available that could be used in a pinch. A kitchen timer set to 28 minutes might be a good idea as well to give them time to get back in and hang up.

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  • $\begingroup$ Plus one for the kitchen timer. I'd add a good stop watch too. Better make several kitchen timers and stop watches for extra safety. A smart client would only make full payment after completing their Cretaceous jaunt. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 13:15
  • $\begingroup$ Oxygen at 15% won't kill you. Assuming the same sea level pressure back then (don't know if that is valid), the oxygen partial pressure for 15% oxygen is the same as oxygen partial pressure at 2500m altitude. So if you can breath in Mexico City, you could breathe in the Cretaceous. 10% is 6000m, so that is a problem for long term survival, but not for a few hours. With a meteor strike in 30 minutes, there are bigger concerns. $\endgroup$
    – kingledion
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 13:23
  • $\begingroup$ @kingledion: Also note that you're standing in a phone booth, not climbing a mountain. $\endgroup$
    – jamesqf
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ Oxygen at 15% will not kill you but unless you are acclimatised to it you will begin to have ill affects .nwohs.com/Oxygen%20Regulatory%20Limits%20I.pdf At 12% concentration you can get permanent heart damage.@jamessqf your are not climbing a mountain but the affect would be equivalent. $\endgroup$
    – Sarriesfan
    Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 19:56

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