So, sorry for asking a stupid question.What causes Time to Move?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stratosphere
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
Time is perceived as moving due to the evolution of systems governed by fundamental laws that include time derivatives, such as Newton's second law and Faraday's law. The discussion raises the question of what causes this evolution and how time interacts with matter. While science can describe how systems evolve over time, it struggles to provide answers to "why" questions regarding the nature of these laws. Ultimately, the inquiry into the movement of time leads to philosophical considerations, as the reasons behind fundamental laws remain largely unknown. The conversation highlights the distinction between scientific explanation and philosophical inquiry regarding the nature of time.
Stratosphere
Messages
373
Reaction score
0
Does time actually get moved by something, or does it jut move because it does?

* I forgot to put a space between time and move
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Does time move? I mean, I know we have expressions like "where did the time go?" but I never thought that was literal. What exactly do you mean by time moving?

Are you asking why a system evolves in time?
 
I suppose that I WAS asking why a system evloves around time, I just wasn't sure how to word it. So what makes things evolve around time then? And how does time interact with matter?
 
Stratosphere said:
I suppose that I WAS asking why a system evloves around time, I just wasn't sure how to word it. So what makes things evolve around time then? And how does time interact with matter?
Well, the fundamental laws have d/dt terms in them like Newton's 2nd law:
f = dp/dt

Or Faraday's law
curl(E) = -dB/dt

So systems evolve in time because the fundamental laws of the universe have d/dt in them.

Of course, science is completely ill-suited to answer "why" questions, and as any 4-year-old knows you can always take any "because" answer and ask another "why" question. In this case the logical 4-year-old progression would be "why do the laws have d/dt terms in them". And the answer is "science can never answer why any of the fundamental laws are the way they are" (a fancy way of saying nobody knows why except priests and philosophers).
 
So I know that electrons are fundamental, there's no 'material' that makes them up, it's like talking about a colour itself rather than a car or a flower. Now protons and neutrons and quarks and whatever other stuff is there fundamentally, I want someone to kind of teach me these, I have a lot of questions that books might not give the answer in the way I understand. Thanks
Back
Top