I read that time started FLOWING after the big bang. Does this mean that time is something animate & it has some direction of 'flow'? If time started after the big bang, what do maintain on our watches? Is it not time?
2006-07-03 23:54:34 · 4 answers · asked by whatever 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
In which direction does time flow? Will the flow ever stop?Was there no time b4 the big bang as time started flowing only after that.
2006-07-04 20:19:27 · update #1
Hi whatever
The theory which deals most comprehensively with the nature of time is relativity. IN relativity time doesn't "flow", time is a coordinate axis normal to space. The reason we get the impression of time flowing is due to our own motion along the time axis.
IN everyday interaction physics time intervals are scalars. There's no directionality to time at the interaction scale because the physics of time at the smallest scales is largely symmetrical to reversal. However at the largest scales a number of "time arrows" appear which unambiguuously distinguish past from future for us, and give time a vector-like nature. Hawking identifies three such time arrows:
i) thermodynamic: the past to future arrow points in the direction of increasing entropy
ii) cosmological: the past to future arrow points in the direction of expanding universe
iii) perceptional: people can distinguish past from future in their heads.
Some people add a fourth arrow: the past to future arrow points in the direction that radiaiton propagates spherically away from sources.
IN my opinion arrow (iii) is really just a manifestation of arrow (i). Arrow (ii) leaves me unconfortable because it implies the time arrow will reverse in a collapsing universe which might not be supportable thermodynamically. Arrow (iv) neglects advanced solutions to propagation equations. However arrow (i) is a real time arrow.
Hope this helps!
The Chicken
2006-07-04 00:14:09 · answer #1 · answered by Magic Chicken 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time in its simplest form is a unit of measurement. That object on your wrist that we call a watch is a tool. A tool used and made to measure productivity, enhance and increase efficiency according to our societies implemented infrastructure (An infrastructure that needs a generally agreed upon social device to measure and complete certain task(s). The flow of time is relative. It’s based off of what you except to complete by when.
2006-07-04 22:48:09 · answer #2 · answered by Axiom 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time as we know it, is the measurement of mass moving from one direction to another
2006-07-09 17:52:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
watches are not time
watches are simply mechanical or electrical devices that we use measure off intervals that we assume to be of fixed time lengths
the latest thinking in physics is that time is actually 2 dimensional but i admit i don't understand that point enough to explain it here
2006-07-04 07:00:48 · answer #4 · answered by Ivanhoe Fats 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋