What is time?

Question

Time can be found in numerous equations in different branches of science. It is a physical variable, definitely, but what is it actually like?

We can measure "time" with the count of some events which have some standard frequences. But what are the other features of time - if there are any at all? Can we found them, or should we regard "time" as a variable with unknown charasterictic features?

Answer 1

Time is not an elementary concept. We do not have a sense for time. Time is a concept based on elementary concepts. We observe distance, velocity and oscillatory movements but not time. In physics we say that time is distance divided by velocity.
Do not confuse "time" with a sequence of events. Several sensations are stored in the order they occurred. That is primary information, it is something existing in our brains or the computer memory of an artificial intelligent system. It is an ordering. To determine the time involved we would have to compare the instant of occurrence of the first and last sense information with the distance something moved in our environment.
"Time" is often a very useful concept, but we should be aware that it is not a primary concept. Much confusion is created because we think time is a concept that corresponds to something in our environment.

Answer 2

The most annoying feature of Time is that it only goes in one direction.
Another annoying feature is that Time is relative and depends on the observer.
You mentioned a standard frequency to measure time. Well, a train whistle has a given frequency and you could use it to measure time. But if you are standing at a station you will hear different frequencies when the train is coming and when it is leaving. Then, for the station observer, time on the train is faster when it approaches and slower when it leaves.
Quite annoying, isn't it?

Answer 3

That's like asking what the properties of length or width or depth are. It's just not applicable, really.

People who think time is a human abstraction fail to realize the difference between a clock, which is a means of measurement, and everything happening at once. If there were not a dimention to account for duration, the beginning of the Universe and the End would have no duration to seperate them. They would happen consecutively.

This is like mistaking a ruler for the cube you are mesuring.

I wonder how Lee H exists to respond to this question, if he has risen above time? I wonder how long it took him to type that?

It is also a mistake to think that time only flows in one direction. Evidence indicates that time is more a river, than a line, with a tendancy to flow forward, a current. But eddies and whirlpools swirling around disturbances and outcroppings in reality. People believe this because they've never seen time go backwards, but they've never seen it because they've never experinced a place outside of the space/time continum.

I really wouldn't recomend it, either. Since that means failing to exist in general.

Answer 4

Time is not an elementary concept. We do not have a sense for time. Time is a concept based on elementary concepts. We observe distance, velocity and oscillatory movements but not time. In physics we say that time is distance divided by velocity. Do not confuse "time" with a sequence of events. Several sensations are stored in the order they occurred. That is primary information, it is something existing in our brains or the computer memory of an artificial intelligent system.

Answer 5

"There are two distinct views on the meaning of time. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. This is the realist view, to which Sir Isaac Newton [1] subscribed, in which time itself is something that can be measured.

A contrasting view is that time is part of the fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which we sequence events, quantify the duration of events and the intervals between them, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows", that objects "move through", or that is a "container" for events. This view is in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz[2] and Immanuel Kant,[3][4] in which time, rather than being an objective thing to be measured, is part of the mental measuring system."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

Answer 6

Physical time is a particular velocity. It is the speed of light. The reason for this is that mass is formed of electromagnetic energy. The physics trilogy describes why time is the basis of our existence and what this means to us. E = mc2, m = E/c2, and c2 = E/m is the trilogy. Notice the only unchanging value is that of "c2". It is this value that comprises mass - what we are composed of. Our composition is that of physical time. It is for this reason that all events pass from the present into the past at the same rate of speed. This value describes the duration of physical time before it no longer exists, and states that it is impossible for us of "physical tme" to ever have any direct relationship with any events of the past or future. All that ever shall exist to us is physical, present time.
http://timebones.blogspot.com and
http://360.yahoo.com/noddarc "The Problem and Repair of Relativity" may be of interest.

Answer 7

Attempting to understand the nature of Time has always been a prime occupation for philosophers and scientists. Perhaps as a result of this considerable discussion, it is difficult to provide an uncontroversial and clear definition of the nature of time. This article begins by looking at some of the main philosophical and scientific issues relating to time

Answer 8

Time is something that we as humans decided to make up. There was no minutes hours seconds until we came along. It is an abstract variable that only exists through math physics and our own heads.

Answer 9

time can be affected by speed and gravity makes you wonder is it tangible.
Ronald L. Mallett. Ph.D., Professor of Physics is right now inventing a time machine with a ring lasers curving space and making time loop back on itself. effectively going back to the past. if travel near the speed of light you are effectively end up in the furture. time is non linear. it was believe that time was the same everywhere but now we know its relative to the observer.
our future time will unfold more of its characteristics.

Answer 10

Time is a necessity for everything to happen. Time is no variable (unless it is to be believed that time travel is possible) and thus cannot have any characteristics apart from the obvious. Time is time, I'm afraid there is no more than that.