Does such a thing as time exist and if so on what scale?

Answer 1

time is an illusion of the linear mind of man. scale is moot

Answer 2

Time does exist because you have to think about events and how far apart they occur. It is commonly called the 4th dimension, because any object can have length, width and higher that contributes to its 3D effect. However the same object does not just stay there in the same space infinitely. To measure its state and motion through 3D space, you have time.

As for scale, that really depends on the universe. In the old days, it was the sun, stars and seasons motions that set the clocks. Now we use even more accurate, well spaced means such as vibrating atoms or blue-shifting of the expanding universe. All these methods suggest a linear scaled time motion. However, if your ticking watch moves at two-times the regular speed while your own body is moving at two-times the regular speed, how would you know time has changed?

Answer 3

The dimensions of length, width, and breadth are measured in units of distance, i.e. inches, feet, meters. The dimension of duration is measured in units of time, i.e. minutes, hours, years. Time is a measuring tool like any other, to ask if such a thing as time exists is like asking if such a thing as distance exists. Try looking at it from this angle: Are New York and Paris in the exact same place? If not, then, clearly, there must exist distance because that is what separates them. Having established that there is distance between New York and Paris one must ask can you be in both places at the simultaneously? If not, then there must exist such a thing as a journey by which you move from one city to the other and this journey must have a duration otherwise no journey would be needed. We must, therefor, have a tool for measuring duration, just as we do for measuring distance. This allows you to quantify the journey in two ways, how far did you go (distance), and how long did it take (duration)? As to scale, as in all other things, it depends on what you're measuring. That is why we have scales ranging from micro-seconds to geologic periods.

Answer 4

"Time is a word we use to describe a measurement.

Does a mile or kilometer exist?

Time does not "exist" in the physical or literal sense, it is merely a word we use to help communicate an idea."

as he said :) time is an universal constant used for measurement of what we perceive as something passing, really matter transforming.

If we were to talk abut a scale of time we would talk as a fact about 3D space if its about the present, conventional reality if we were to talk about the past or fictious reality if we were to talk about the future. The so called traveling in time is really moving the whole universe or only the part relative to the observer to fool him; that is if ti would be really considered. If you wish in the ways of cause and effect as to move the observer or the universe relative to the observer "back in time or forth" wich is quite imposible, denoted by the nature of time... wich is a constant desemnated to measure the passing of something... matter transforming.

Answer 5

Time is an exceedingly paradoxical notion - it is at once as ethereal, ephemeral, impalpable, and yet irrefutable (conceptually and physically) as any other notion you can possibly think of. It is also quite infamous for it's anomalous characteristics (as in time-like events and effects, for instance, associated with black holes, wormholes, hypothetical particles like Tachyons, Time Reversal and invariant rules, Quantum Reality considerations, non-locality gedunken experiments, etc.) Take its scale for instance: It can be on quantum mechanical scale, gravitational/universal scale, Special Relativistic scale, geological scale, psychological/human scale, philosophical scale, historical scale, religious scale, mythical scale, Phenomenological scale, Big Bang scale, Biochemical Perceptual scale, different frames of reference scales, etc. Even its very "date of birth", if you like, can be traced back to Nothingness, if you really force the issue. …However, to help you make sense of all these seemingly incompatible, yet coexisting, scales and notions of time, I can tell you this: Think of time, in a good first approximation, as not merely the measure, but the very (actual and potential) essence, of "dynamics" among objects and events. You might say, well fair enough, but what the heck is “dynamics” – mathematical objects and concepts aside, how do we reduce a slippery idea like “time” into a humanly tangible notion? I suppose the better answer to that question would be: It is NOT necessarily a good idea to water down “time” into a non-mathematical and humanly/conceptually graspable notion. But if you still insist, then I would say: Think of “dynamics” as having to do with movement (i.e. speed, velocity, acceleration, curvatures, etc.) And speed is exactly the path you must follow to get to the notion of the “Physical Time” (as opposed to the manifold human perceived and/or invented notions and dimensions of time). Both Special Relativity [e.g. time-dilation, c as the universal speed limit, the four-vector (i.e. three spatial dimensions + time or “ct” as the fourth dimension)] and General Relativity [e.g. Gravity defined as the curvature of spacetime in the vicinity of a massive object] considerations can easily lead you to the FACT that time is in fact just as REAL a physical concept/object, as say, space or mass. … In closing, keep in mind that there is a lot more to space and time than just a mere human perception and/or mathematical background in which we write and evolve our physical equations and theories – spacetime may yet prove to be the most fundamental physical entity there is. Keep thinking and have fun!

P.S. For further (layman type) reading I recommend: Anything by Hawking, Greene, Davis, ….. OR even purely philosophical works like Being and Time by M. Heidegger, ….

Answer 6

scientifically, time is the fourth dimension, we are in our 3d plain of existence, however without this fourth factor that 3d existence is not gonna change itll be static.
And the scale of time, well it depends on the view point and perspective, if ur a human, like me, time can be long and fast depending on ur mood, and at times u think life is too short cuz we lives approx less than 100 years, this is to the wide contrast of the lives of other celestial objects, for example stars, they will last for the billions of years, to stars, our very lives are mere millseconds of a breath...

Answer 7

Time is just like a ruler. It measure the destince between one event to another. Thogh both where invented by man as a tool, it doesn't mean they exist any less.

Answer 8

Time is a word we use to describe a measurement.

Does a mile or kilometer exist?

Time does not "exist" in the physical or literal sense, it is merely a word we use to help communicate an idea.

Answer 9

If you really want to get to the meaning of time, I would suggest you Stephen Hawking's "Brief History Of Time", Chapter: Space and Time.

Answer 10

Nope. It is just an idea created by us (humankind) to keep us in order. If there was no time the world would be unruly.