Does time exist in empty space?

Question

Since gravity creates time out of the annihilation of space would it be correct to say that regions of space with no matter don't have time?

light is massless and does not create time since it interacts very little with gravity. Time is a dimension of our universe and is a byproduct of matter (which hasn't always been here). But time only exists because matter exists. The difference between matter and energy is mass.

Look up John A, Gowan
http://home.earthlink.net/~johngowan/spacetxt.html

Answer 1

Gravity does not create time out of the annhilation of space. Where the hell do you people get this stuff?

Answer 2

I am 78 years old and I have spent countless hours reading everything I could get my hands on about astromomy and physics and I am delighted to have found this site, at last I have a forum to check my ideas with those of others. I have no matematical skills much beyond simple addittion, multiplication and division, because of this shortfall I am always skating on thin ice when I offer opinions but here are my observations on the fifteen opions offered here.
Answer no. 1, I agree. No matter no events therefore no time.
Answer no. 2, Light is unaffected by time.
Answer no. 3, A very good answer except that time is not measured in increments of a man made device.
Answer no. 4, Absolutely correct.
Answer no. 5, Wrong, only a clock works that way.
Answer no. 6, Right as far as gravity affecting time, time stops in a black hole because the is no room for movement, therefeore no events take place.
Answer no. 7, not a good answer overall.
Answer no. 8, A good answer except the is no past or future, there is only the present, Now.
Answer no. 9, Bad answer.
Answer no.10, Excellent answer.
Answer no. 11, Good, however this thing about time preventing everything from happening at once is over my head, it makes no sense to me.
Answer no. 12, True but this does address the question.
Answer no. 13, Poor answer.
Answer no. 14, Only the first sentence is correct.
Answer no. 15, A good answer but not enough detail as related to the question.
Answer no. 4 gets my vote. Thank you all for your input.

Answer 3

Einstein showed that space and time are linked together (..spacetime..) Spacetime is where events are located. (..http://www.iep.utm.edu/ancillaries/time-sup.htm#H4..) If there's any space there too is time since it takes time to move from some point in space to another point.

Gravity doesn't 'create' time, although gravity does influence spacetime because it changes the shape of space.

Time is not a *natural* feature of the universe but merely a concept sentient beings like us have developed to separate events into 'past,' 'present,' and 'future.' Again it was Einstein that pointed out that there is no Cosmic Master Clock that ticks off the right time for the entire universe. For example, it's now 4:45 pm on the west coast, but in New York it's 7:45 pm. Which time is the right time?

Answer 4

Spacetime and Matterenergy closely interact. My feeling is that they are different aspects of the same phenomenon.
Time bends, if you will, just like space does. Recent research on black holes indicates that time stops at the event horizon of a black hole. Some other research indicates that before the birth of the universe, time and space were indistinguishable from each other, and therefore it was impossible to separate past, present, and future or to separate cause from effect. In this way the universe could come into existence without being caused by a prior event. Once the Big Bang happened time and space were distinguishable from each other and from matter and energy, so I would have to say if you have space you have time.

Answer 5

No, because no region of space is completely void. Even if you imagine a space with no matter in it, there is always light, and that's something. As long as there is light, there are implied frequencies of that light. And that means time exists there.

Now if you can imagine what if the Universe never happened. Since there would be no matter, no energy, no gravity, not even any space, then time would be non-existent as well. But as long as anything can be described as phenomenal, then time exists for it, wherever it is.

Answer 6

Time is not dependent on the fullness/emptiness of space. Time continues. Time is a way of putting definition of happenings. The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

"Time. Time is a human perception defined as the length of an interval separating two points on a nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. The intervals are measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, years."

A google search will bring lots of philosophical discussions.

Answer 7

Not exactly.

That is just like asking if time exists in an empty movie theater, or inside of an empty car.

Time has nothing to whatsoever do with the annihilation of matter.

The presence or absence of matter has nothing to do at all with time. If you swing from one tree house to another on a long rope. it takes you time to get from one place to another. The same thing holds true in travel from say the Space Station to a Satelite or meet up with another space ship in space. Time is required to travel to the meeting point, and time is required to return to your point of origin.

Answer 8

Time is a perpetual equal spaced measurement created by man an does not exist in empty space, because the brain would be gone... True time is one thing and that one thing is reality and reality is space.

Answer 9

No.... gravity doesn't create time, but time *is* affected by gravity.

However.... does time *matter* in a region of space with no matter? (no pun intended....) The only way to measure time would be to have equipment there, likewise, that means matter suddenly exists in the region of space you wish to measure without matter.

It's like, "If no one's there, does a tree crashing in the forest make noise?"

Answer 10

Time, by definition, is the period from one event to the next event. A second is from one mark on a clock to the next, a minute...the passage of 60 such events. And so on. Here on Earth time is based on the passage from one celestial event to the next. Day..month, year...etc. So in space where we do not have these celestial events, they use a chronometer. It measures the passage of time (from one event to the next event) though it may not show time as we know it.
ie - "Is it 2 pm yet?" NO it is LAUNCH PLUS 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES!" Watches and clocks reflecting Earth time can be used if all in the rocket agree on it.