Hyperbolic Time Chamber

The entrance center of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber (精神と時の部屋, Seishin to Toki no Heya; lit. "The Room of Spirit and Time") is a place located in Kami's Lookout. One year inside the chamber is the equivalent to one day on the outside. There is a higher gravity level than Earth's. A step over the threshold of the training area brings one immediately into ten times Earth's gravity (the same as that of Planet Vegeta, Planet Zoon, and King Kai's planet), the air gets denser, and the temperature fluctuates, the deeper one goes into the training area.

Description

Gohan and Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber has an entrance at its center, located in a central building with two side wings with housing, food supplies, bathing quarters and sleeping quarters. There is no night or day in the Room, but the surroundings remain a constant bright iridescent white aurora. Its reflective floor is of undefined area, and the Room's boundaries are thought to stretch to infinity in all directions even though it appears to have a definite atmosphere, limiting its size. Goku explains to Gohan during their visit to the chamber that the air grows increasingly dense in the recesses beyond the plaza, which can be threatening as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber has no definite boundaries. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber represents a separate dimension from that of Earth.

The time dilation that occurs in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is one day of real time is equivalent to one year in the Chamber, or 1 minute of real time is approximately six hours in the Chamber. There are dual giant hourglasses of emerald sand adorning the sides of the building that count down a year within the chamber. A clock on the dome roof of the main part of the building tells the applicable time in the real world.

This essentially allows for someone entering the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to get one year worth of intense training in a single day.

Goku and Gohan playing in the Time Chamber's bathtub

The gravity in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber living area is described as being "different", though it seems to not be much higher than Earth's gravity. The gravity of the training area is 10g. Gohan's first step over the threshold of the training area brought him to his knees (this does not happen in the Dragon Ball manga, which explains how the gravity could feel "different" in the living area); Trunks also had some difficulty with the gravity, but Goku and Vegeta were both well accustomed to much higher levels of gravity by the time they used the chamber.

Those talking in the chamber have an echo in their voices akin to when a character thinks a word, rather than says it aloud. However, there are no solid objects other than the entrance for the sound waves to bounce off of.

The temperature in the training area fluctuates rapidly, ranging between -40°F (-40°C) and 122°F (50°C), and the air pressure is a quarter of Earth's (in the anime, the air is said to grow denser the deeper one goes into the chamber). Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Future Trunks are the only characters shown to go deep into the chamber. It is not shown if Piccolo, Goten, or Trunks did, though it seems unlikely that any of the three would have much trouble with it.

Goten and Trunks inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber

The wooden door entrance is a portal between the Earth and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and is the only way to travel between the two dimensions without ripping holes in the dimensional walls.

The Chamber can only be entered for two days (or two years) at a time, if anybody attempts to stay longer, they will not be able to exit, leaving them in nothingness and not allowing anyone else to use the door. Also, there are only enough provisions to accommodate two people for the full year. This is commonly misinterpreted as a two-person limit overall, but it should be noted that in the Buu Saga four people in total entered through the main door. Vegeta and Trunks are the only two to enter the room for two entire days, though due to their lack of mastery of the Super Saiyan form, they increased far less than Goku and Gohan had in less than one year inside. Goten and Trunks are the last to train in the room when, upon Buu's transformation to Super Buu, Piccolo decides to give them time inside. In less than half of the hour (roughly one week inside the chamber) that Piccolo told Buu to wait, they achieve all three Super Saiyan levels.

It is mentioned by Goku during the Fusion Saga of Dragon Ball Z that one person can only enter the chamber twice in a lifetime. There are no further details regarding this.

Approximate Time Dilation

Time passes 365.25 times faster in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber than in the real world, making one day outside the chamber equal to 365.25 days within it (one solar year).

Real World	Time Chamber	Calculation
1 day	1 year	1 day → 365.25d=1y
1 Hour	15 days, 5 hours and 15 mins	1 hour → 365.25h 360h/24(hrs/d)=15d 5h 0.25h×60(min/h)=15min
1 minute	6 hours and 5 minutes	1 minute → 365.25min 360min/60(mins/h) = 6h 5min 0.25min×60(secs/min)=15s
1 second	6 minutes	1 second → 365.25s 360s/60(secs/min) = 6min 5.25 (s) ~ 5s

Dragon Ball Z

Imperfect Cell Saga

Main article: Imperfect Cell Saga Vegeta and his son Trunks enter the Chamber to train for their attempt to prevent Cell from attaining his complete form. Both train as ascended Super Saiyans, and Trunks surpasses his father in brute strength, but has issues with not getting in the way of his father's pride, so Trunks hides his power level. Trunks unknowingly makes a mistake by using his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to increase his strength, while sacrificing his speed and dexterity. Both Vegeta and Trunks fail to prevent Cell's completion, although Vegeta deliberately took part in allowing Cell to become complete for the sport of fighting him at a more challenging state.

Perfect Cell Saga

Main article: Perfect Cell Saga

Gohan as a Super Saiyan and Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber

Goku and his son Gohan enter the Chamber in preparation to fight against Cell. While training with his father, Gohan becomes a Super Saiyan, becoming the youngest Super Saiyan of his time. They both emerge from the Chamber with a heightened control over their Super Saiyan transformation. They developed an optimisation technique to stay in the Super Saiyan state for long periods of time in order to eliminate the strain from transforming. This allowed them to save energy for fighting, and worked so well they could even sleep while in Super Saiyan form. This training greatly assisted in Gohan's upgrade to Super Saiyan 2 during the Cell Games.

Piccolo entered the Chamber for meditation and self training, followed by Vegeta and Trunks entering again, increasing their power levels even further (although not quite surpassing Goku and Gohan). Piccolo reached a level of power equal to or possibly greater than Cell in his semi-perfect form (given he could hold his own against a Cell Jr., a much more powerful foe than "semi-perfect" Cell). Trunks and Vegeta's power levels did not increase near as much as the first time they entered (possibly due to the fact that unlike last time, they acquired no new forms during this period, instead focusing on powering up their regular Super Saiyan state to its maximum), but they still improved enough to put up an evenly matched battle against the Cell Jrs. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber was not used again until after the Cell Games.

Goku tells Gohan that he was here when he was little, meaning that he went into the chamber when he was training during the Piccolo Jr. Saga.

Fusion Saga

Main article: Fusion Saga

Trunks, Goten, Piccolo, and Super Buu in the Time Chamber

Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to lure in the horrible Super Buu. When Buu enters the Room, Trunks and Goten use the Fusion Dance technique to become Gotenks. They introduce their Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack and upgrade themselves to Super Saiyan while fused. During the battle Gotenks falsely says he can not win in hopes of creating a more dramatic victory. Believing the act, Piccolo destroys the Room of Spirit and Time's entrance, leaving no way out. Buu can not stand the thought of being stuck in the Room (mostly because of his fondness towards chocolate, and the lack of it in this dimension). So Buu in an intense rage, screams at the top of his lungs. The scream is so loud, that it rips a hole leading back to Earth's dimension. Buu gets out but it's too late for Gotenks and Piccolo, as the portal closes behind him. Gotenks and Piccolo attempt to recreate Buu's mad howl, and succeed only after Gotenks transforms into Super Saiyan 3, and yells their way out.

Super Buu and Piccolo inside the Time Chamber

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is rendered non-functional without a door, and must be repaired for future use. It can be argued that when Buu destroyed the Lookout in later episodes, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber could have been fully repaired because the Lookout was wished back damage free, whereas in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, it is mentioned that Piccolo fixed the door after the lookout was wished back.

Video Games

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber in Budokai 3

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is featured as a battle stage in Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22, Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden, Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, and Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden. It is also a playable battle stage in the Budokai Tenkaichi video game series where, for the sake of playability, a transparent wall encloses the plaza (rather than the area surrounding it being infinite as it is in Dragon Ball Z) and the outskirts are a blueish kind of color rather than clear/white. The chamber is also a playable battle stage in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, where it is named Time Chamber, and in the crossover fighting game Battle Stadium D.O.N.

In Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, it is used to train Gohan, Trunks and Vegeta to transform into Super Saiyans. The chamber is also featured in Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury, seen when training as Goten and Trunks.

The entrance/exit of the Time Chamber makes a cameo in the barren planet stage of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit.

Trivia

• It is said in the Imperfect Cell Saga that only two people can enter the Chamber at a time, yet, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo and Super Buu at once are all in it in the Fusion Saga. This is cleared up when it is stated that the chamber only has enough supplies to last two people for an entire year; Goten and Trunks only spent roughly 2 weeks in the chamber, and Piccolo and Buu were only in the chamber for a matter of hours. It is unlikely there is any limit to just how many people can enter the chamber at one time, though without bringing your own supplies or severe rationing, more than two people would have to leave the chamber earlier than one year.

Gallery

GohanInChamberNV.jpg Goku and Gohan enter the Time Chamber GokuGohanHyperbolic.jpg Goku and Gohan Goku and Gohan sparring in the Time Chamber Trunks looking in the Time Chamber's fridge Trunks shocked at the lack of food A clock inside the Time Chamber Piccolo entering the Time Chamber Piccolo and Super Buu entering the Time Chamber Gotenks and Super Buu in the Time Chamber A Hyperbolic Time Chamber card in the Bandai CCG