Why is distance often measured in time, but time never measured in distance?

Question

For example a person can say "Chicago is 30 mintues away", but a person cannot say "I'm 14,000 miles old".

Answer 1

Has to do with relative and knowable speed. As has been said, if "Chicago is 30 mintues away" the statement infers a knowable speed of travel, defined by either enforced traffic speed limits or individual walking pace or some other definable speed quotient. However, to say "I'm 14,000 miles old" involves a range of travelling speeds - from the personal walking speed to anything up to aircraft speed - 14,000 miles could be less than 2 days old in a plane, or many years by foot, or any combination of these etc. Speed is defined in physics as the amount of distance covered in a set time, eg 30 mph.

Essentially of course, you're right - one could say "I'm 14,000 miles old" but this would only have any meaning to the listener if the breakdown was then given to them of how many miles was travelled at what speed...

Answer 2

Because time is a constant measure. 60 seconds=1 min, 60 min=1hr, etc. So time to cover a distance is a set amount.
Distance is to variable depending on speed of travel. Man can run the 4 minute mile or take forever to get somewhere.
One could say they were 14,000 miles old, but who wants to keep track? That would be one massive pedometer!

Answer 3

Distances can be measured in time assuming an average rate of travel. This gives us a distance by taking m/s (velocity) and multiplying it by s (time) giving (m/s)*s which equals m or distance.

Time cannot be measured in distance because there is no other unit for it than temporal units. We never say something like "I'm 14,000 miles old." because while we can move back and forth along 14,000 miles, we cannot move back and forth along the temporal axis (yet).

Answer 4

distance = rate* time

when you hear that something is 30 minutes away the rate is implied, which is the average speed of a car. There is nothing implied in something being 14,000 miles old except stupidity. I do, however, often say that my car has 160,000 miles on it to give a person an idea of how old it is.

Answer 5

time IS measured in distance. The year was originally based on how long it took us to move once around the sun; that's a distance, right? The second, i believe, is now based on the time it takes light to move some arbitrary distance in a vaccuum. Again, distance-based.

You can say 'I've circumnavigated the sun 20 times', to say that you are 20 years old. It's just a little weird.

Answer 6

Because if Chicago is a certain distance away, you can talk about the approximate time it takes to get there. But you can't measure someone's age in distance because you don't have to travel a distance to get old. You do have to use time to travel.

Answer 7

for whatever it's worth. Ever hear term light year? It's the term used for 5.88 trillion miles or the distance light travels through outer space.

Answer 8

look at the history of mankind - look at how it took time for us to "evolve" - and you will see time measured in distance (history - point A to B to C etc).
Great question!

Answer 9

That's a great question that I'm not sure if anyone can answer. Here's another one.. If you're staring into the abyss, is the abyss staring back into you?

Answer 10

because of the habit, the earth is turning every day, you are 40000km older everyday but who knows that earth was round when they put a unit for the time.