Discussion » Questions » Science and Technology » What is Time? It is known as the Fourth Dimension. How would you define it?
Benedict Arnold

What is Time? It is known as the Fourth Dimension. How would you define it?

Posted - December 4, 2019
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Responses


  • 46117
    I wouldn't.  
    I couldn't.
    Therefore, I shouldn't.

    Time in physics is defined by its measurement: time is what a clock reads. In classical, non-relativistic physics it is a scalar quantity and, like length, mass, and charge, is usually described as a fundamental quantity. This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at December 9, 2019 5:58 AM MST
      December 4, 2019 2:52 PM MST
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  • 4624
    I infer the existence of time from the evidence of change.

    Something that once did not exist comes into existence, exists for a while, and then erodes, dies, dissipates or transforms into something else.

    The world as we know it is full of materials composed of atoms, elements, perpetually recycling into different forms, some so slowly that we cannot see it, others so fast that we can't see it - but we can see the evidence, the traces left behind, the effects that result from change.

    If there were no dimension of time, nothing could change.
    We could not hear music or bird song.
    We could not use language.
    We could not feel the wind.
    We could never be born, could not grow, grow old, or die.
    We could not know ourselves as beings of experience,
    for everything we are ever aware of is the result of stimuli in varying rates of change.




    This post was edited by inky at December 9, 2019 5:59 AM MST
      December 4, 2019 2:56 PM MST
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  • Wonderful answer in my book, dear bookworm ! 
      December 4, 2019 3:30 PM MST
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  • 4624
    Thanks.
    I looked up the B-theory of time. To me it makes sense in logic, but not in practice - so I decided to leave it out in my answer above.

    What's your idea of time, Whitehair?
      December 4, 2019 4:06 PM MST
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  • I know the B-Theory, but I also have a hard time sorting it out, even though I have a good understanding of physics, and I am very interested in metaphysics because of it. I am a seeker in all kind of questions. Time is relative,  it is seen differently by individuals, depending on age, state of health etc. In theory we can live only in the present, which contains past and future. ESP ( Extra sensory perception) seems to verify that. Please, see my commment to E 99's post.
      December 4, 2019 7:52 PM MST
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  • 4624
    I've always enjoyed the seeker in you - and your questions.

    I agree that the way we see time is relative - a matter of subjective perceptions.
    Our emotions around what we need, enjoy or prefer to avoid will always affect our sense of long or short duration.

    But I think the dimension of time would continue to exist even if there were no conscious or sentient beings in existence.
    In other words, I think time exists independent of any form of measurement or perception.
    This follows from time being the necessary condition for change.
    I believe the world (universe) is not a projection of group mental perceptions, nor the product of any being's imagination.
    I believe matter and energy - with time and space as their dimensions - have always existed in a perpetual state of change.
    I think of dark matter and energy as probable since they seem necessary to balance the measurements and estimates physicists now have.

    There's also Einstein's theory of relativity. In a sense, it could be said that physical forces are relative to each other only by virtue of the dimensions of time and space.
      December 5, 2019 11:25 AM MST
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  • 7280
    One definition of time is "the measurement of things that change."
      December 5, 2019 10:56 AM MST
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  • 4624
    Yep.
      December 5, 2019 11:06 AM MST
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  • 10635

    Time - 

    Time is precious.  Most of us rarely have enough of it.  Yet when we do get some extra, we kill it.  Scientists tell us that time moves at a constant rate, and yet they can’t explain why summers fly while winters walk.  We're told that time can only flow in one direction - forward.  However, that's not quite true.  There are times when time not only can go backwards, but it can also stand still.  Just ask any middle school student on the last day of school before summer vacation.  They’ll swear that, just before the final bell rings, not only will the hands on the clock freeze, but also they’ll actually run backwards!  Time.  Sometimes it’s called the fourth dimension.  Of course, that can’t be true, because we all know that the fourth Dimension was actually Lamonte McLemore (despite what Marilyn McCoo or Billy Davis Jr. may have claimed).

      December 4, 2019 4:05 PM MST
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  • Thank you, Shuhak, for your answer. I like it very much. 
      December 4, 2019 7:59 PM MST
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  • 44603
    Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.

    Here's an old hippie song you might recommender.

      December 4, 2019 6:04 PM MST
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  • Everything is happening at once, but not for an individual. Time is a very personal thing, for an human, for a plant, for a rock. Every second  X trillion  happenings occur in the world, and I just smiled......Our aging is just a moment in time of the universe. We measure time by observing nature, the sun, the moon, the tides, the saisons. Clocks, calendars etc. do the fine print.   Thanks for the song. Will listen to it tomorrow. I am not very familiar with those songs. 
      December 4, 2019 7:34 PM MST
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  • 44603
    You wax philosophical. Observing can teach us many things, however trivial they might be to others.
      December 4, 2019 7:56 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Speaking of waxing philosophically, you are suggesting that time be considered a cause.
      December 5, 2019 10:58 AM MST
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  • 44603
    Hmm. Maybe time is a key for causing everthing to happen.
      December 5, 2019 11:01 AM MST
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  • 13395
    I think elapsing time is an illusion created by events happening. The illusion began with the event of the big bang. The infinite past and infinite future occur in terms of the present tense. Our existence is happening at a point during the infinity of time. 
      December 4, 2019 9:34 PM MST
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  • I think the same - or similar. I doubt the Big Bang theory. It is not proven. 
      December 5, 2019 8:54 AM MST
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  • 6988
    Since time 'warps' as it comes near a heavenly body such as Earth,  are we all warped also? 
      December 5, 2019 8:19 AM MST
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  • I hope someone knows more in this case than I do - have to google it - and then - nothing is written in stone, all theory. From what I remember, time is linear? But time is also an illusion...........
      December 5, 2019 8:59 AM MST
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  • 6988
    This time warping thing is an Einstein theory thing, proven by NASA, or so I read.
      December 5, 2019 9:50 AM MST
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  • Yes, I remember having read almost everything Einstein ever published and seen a diagram of it, but later on that high interest was waning. Now, that I have time again to think about it, it waves to me and says "Hello"...
      December 5, 2019 11:14 AM MST
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  • 7280
    Is time an illusion, or do we simply fail to measure it properly as individuals?

    Is it our perception of time that is defective? This post was edited by tom jackson at December 5, 2019 11:15 AM MST
      December 5, 2019 11:01 AM MST
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  • 44603
    We measure it with a unit that serves practical things.
      December 5, 2019 11:04 AM MST
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  • 7280
    Thanks to the efforts of the railroads, in large part, in the USA. 
      December 5, 2019 11:09 AM MST
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