What Is Time: Answers to Your Questions

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of time, exploring its nature, definitions, and implications in both classical and modern physics. Participants engage with various theories, including classical mechanics, special relativity, and general relativity, as well as philosophical considerations regarding time perception and its measurement.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express confusion about the fundamental nature of time, questioning what it truly is and what causes it.
  • One participant describes time as a coordinate in classical mechanics, emphasizing its role in describing motion alongside spatial coordinates.
  • Another participant mentions that general relativity suggests observers moving at different speeds may disagree on time measurements, introducing the idea of time travel under certain conditions.
  • Some argue that understanding classical mechanics is essential before delving into more complex theories like general relativity.
  • A participant raises the idea that time perception is influenced by sequential experiences and questions how this differs from the perspective of a photon, which experiences no passage of time.
  • There is mention of a paper by Rovelli that discusses time, with some participants finding it intriguing yet difficult to understand.
  • One participant suggests that time could be perceived as a dimension similar to spatial dimensions, proposing that our inability to perceive higher dimensions affects our understanding of time.
  • Another participant discusses the relationship between time and entropy, suggesting that thermodynamics provides insight into the direction of time.
  • Some participants highlight the distinction between coordinate time and proper time in relativity, using the twin paradox as an example of how these concepts can lead to different aging outcomes.
  • There are discussions about the complexity of the question "What is time?" with some suggesting it may not be a properly framed question.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the nature of time, with no clear consensus reached. Some agree on the importance of classical definitions, while others emphasize the complexities introduced by modern physics. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the fundamental question of what time truly is.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the limitations of their understanding and the complexity of the topic, with some noting that definitions of time may vary based on the theoretical framework being used. There are also references to unresolved mathematical steps and the need for further exploration of the topic.

  • #61
I'm still sticking with my answer as Absolute Zero is impossible to reach within our reality, that is to say that if Absolute Zero were reached time as we know it would cease to exist, though a new construct of time would originate as super conductivity and super fluidity result at absolute zero, but at Absolute Zero time would stand still (cease to exist) within our reality (this gives rise to relativity of time under kinetic energy).

"Einstein said that time and three-dimensional space are (to some extent) interchangeable …

that has nothing to do with matter!"

Are you insinuating that three-dimensional space exists without time, temperature, and matter? Cause if you aren't your argument makes no sense.
 
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  • #62
Seasnake - here's my penny's worth. Einstein - the giant - could not reconcile gravity in a general theory of relativity. I am not sure how 'good' he was but I know that our astrophysicists are pretty amazing and they use Einstein's insights to get some really amazing facts about our universe - from such tiny, tiny clues. It blows me away.

But for all that Einstein was not necessarily correct in every respect - not that I presume to understand in whichever way he was not correct - the point is that he developed his ideas by thinking out the box. And the fact that he left us with unanswered questions is a good thing. Because that way we can develop new ideas and new insights. Otherwise we'll all be parroting each other forever. That would really be boring.
 
  • #63
rosie, I've spent years trying to detangle the formulas and problems associated with how Einstein formulated energy, I'm very close to writing it up and submitting to the associated press... I'll be presenting it all graphically in a way that should be very simple to understand and readily acceptable
 
  • #64
I thought you'd done some work here. Anything easy to understand gets my vote. But that's because I'm hopeless at getting my mind around these rarified concepts. The sad part is that it's not from want of effort. I love puzzles - but cannot crack this one. Way above me. At the moment I'm ploughing through the links sent by Andrew.
 
  • #65
Just spent the greater part of the day tossing away three day's work trying to transcribe the C in Einstein's formulas to become variable, as I could not get my sums to add up properly, then went over my notes and found a formula that I had no clue how I obtained it, but with some additional modifications finally got it to work with my sums, I'm very close to solving this puzzle (you have no idea the amount of time it takes to make such progress, I've had to create entirely new variables of which I hadn't a clue what they represented or if they were simply dummy variables that represented nothing, and then to try and figure them out later, is mind puzzling)... I still don't know what my results will be, but everything should be very simple upon completion (give me some more days).

Einstein wasn't so much wrong but instead incomplete, he touched upon something that needed worked out more and then the mathematicians and other physicists got ahold of his work and transformed it into something that was very confusing even to him. I read his article on relativity entitled, "How to Measure a Fish," Einstein was very much into trying to simply things so that everyone regardless of education and mathematical background could understand. He needed to be able to do that cause it was the only way anyone would ever publish or accept his work until he had a name for himself.
 
  • #66
Einstein wasn't the only one who tried to simplify. Niels Bhor is on record as saying that unless a theory, or hypothesis? not sure which - can be explained to a high school student - ie - in simple terms - then it probably wasn't a valid theory.

I sympathise with your struggles seasnake. I also struggle. Am still trying to plough through those links sent by Andrew.
 
  • #67
lol... good luck on those links, I draw the line at simple arithmatic... if it can't be explained out in algebraic form it isn't simplified enough for my tastes
 
  • #68
fishics

seasnake said:
Einstein … I read his article on relativity entitled, "How to Measure a Fish,"

oooh … oooh …

:-p where can i find that? :-p
 
  • #69
I can't find it online anymore, it used to be on a free website containing various works of philosophy by all types of people (like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, ...). The web is too big business, marketing orientated, anymore, its hard to find any decent sites anymore (most were lost due to monthly charging fees of domain names and hosting sites, if you aren't commercially orientated your site isn't bound to last long due to such costs).
 
  • #70
Andrew and Tiny tim. I've just read through this entire thread. You guys are very patient. I'm pleased to report that - though still hopelessly confused I think I'm getting some marginal clarity on this subject. Wow - is all I can say at the moment. The question is just so hugely complex.
 
  • #71
I’ve never been able to see time as being an actual thing and that’s part of the difficulty I have in accepting that time can be dilated. I see time as being merely a generic term attributed to the fact that things move relative to other things in a contiguous sequence of instances of existence. Time is the amount of instances of existence between any two particular instances of existence. An instant of existence is what is captured by a photo.
 
  • #72
Oy vey. Open challenging of established theories and intent to crack pots. We moderators dropped the ball here, sorry...

Seasnake, this isn't a place for that. This is a place for learning and understanding real science. You're new so I'll let it go with a polite warning - the next one won't be so nice. Perhaps more helpful: please note that the theory you are challenging has mountains of evidence supporting it. Anything you devise would necessarily have to be mathematically identical to Relativity (and therefore superfluous) otherwise it would make predictions about how the universe works that have already been proven wrong.

Other, more established members (tim...) - when you see a thread like this and the moderators aren't paying attention, please report it. We don't want to encourage crackpottery just because we overlooked something.

Thread locked.
 

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