what is time?

Answer 1

People mean different things when they refer to time.

If you look right down into the guts of what time signifies in the science, you will find that what time really means is CHANGE. It is almost obvious from our experience that things change (though exactly how valid our experience is becomes a much more protracted discussion), and time is a basis for describing that. If you like, you can re-write all scientific equations without any time variables, per se, and instead just refer to rates instead. If you think of time as a description of rate of change, then there probably is such a thing.

Another way in which time is used is as a reference point. Mathematicians particularly are prone to just slap it on top of our three spatial dimensions as another kind of axis. Something may be at a particular spatial coordinate when you check, but not when you check the next time. Therefore saying "at time A it was there and at time B it was not" seems a perfectly valid way of talking about the difference in that coordinate. And if you like you may even refer to a standard change unit in a particular reference frame, a.k.a. days, hours, minutes, seconds, fortnights, and so on. Just so long as you keep in mind that one reference frame is not necessarily the same as another reference frame you'll probably be fine (see the theory of relativity for more time-warping fun). So if you think of time as a description of data, then there's no reason why it shouldn't be.

The big problem with viewing time as an axis is some people begin to think that, just as with the spatial axes, the time-points are always there and always re-visit-able. If we think of Paris as a point in space, we can certainly visit Paris any time we like (as long as our bank accounts permit). This, however, is obviously NOT the case with time-coordinates. Nobody EVER visits any particular time-coordinate more than once, and arguably we have so far absolutely no way of demonstrating that any time-coordinate other than the one we happen to occupy ever exists. So if you think of time as the 'fourth dimension', or a 'time-stream' that you can boat up and down, there is almost certainly not such a thing.

So the good news is that science is pretty-well grounded, no matter what we find out about time. The bad news is that those 'Time Tunnel' re-runs on TV are doomed to always be fiction.

Answer 2

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. The question, perhaps overly simplified and allowing for no middle ground, is thus: is time a "real thing" that is "all around us", or is it nothing more than a way of speaking about and measuring events?

Many fields avoid the problem of defining time itself by using operational definitions that specify the units of measurement that quantify time. Regularly recurring events and objects with apparent periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples are the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, and the swing of a pendulum.

Time has long been a major subject of science, philosophy and art. The measurement of time has also occupied scientists and technologists, and was a prime motivation in astronomy. Time is also a matter of significant social importance, having economic value ("time is money") as well as personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in human lifespans.

Answer 3

Time is the non-repeating measurement of conscious mass in any quantum event.
The boy will DROP the ball.
The boy is DROPPING the ball.
The boy has DROPPED the ball.
Each step of the event is measured by the increments of time intervals. Those who witnessed the events know they are happening and, afterwards, know they happened. However, neither portion of the events can be repeated in the same time space.

Answer 4

Time is the way we sort our experiences into a sequence. Without that sequential structure, our lives would be even more confusing than they are now.

Answer 5

Time is an illusion. The only time now is time to party, you got that?

Answer 6

Well....me think that time is that thing that you obviously have too much of.
Short answer---to the point--
Right Landhermit?

Answer 7

Oh my, its a an order of life! Its what is we are living in! Its how life runs in time...

Answer 8

time is manmade, it is something that is imaginary yet used in every day life to the point that it is taken as fact. it is something used to constrain the human race, to organize it, and to oppress it.
time is conformity.

Answer 9

It is the most precious thing in the universe. One can never have enough of it and no amount of money can buy it.

Answer 10

Time is the 4th dimension.