Sciences >
Physics
RSS FeedIs time real or relative?
Results so far:
| Relative | 67% | 341 votes | Total: 507 votes | |
| Real | 33% | 166 votes |
Relative
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesThere is a powerful but simple truth in the statement time flies when you are having fun'. This is one simple concept of relative time since it is a fact that time is a scientific constant that neither speeds up nor slows down at least for us here at ground zero on planet earth. Now we can begin this discussion with some different perspectives after agreeing that while time is constant; time is also a relative matter that varies depending on circumstance.
Time does indeed appear to go faster when doing things we enjoy while the converse is also true during times of boredom, disliked activities and such. Perspective plays an important role in this understanding of relative time because each person thinks a little differently. "A watched pot never boils" for example is a nonsensical fallacy given the fact that sufficient heat required to boil a pot of water will eventually do so irrespective of whether or not an observer is present.
Moving onto a more intriguing aspect of relative time, what would happen if we were able to board a craft capable of traveling at precisely the same speed as the earth's orbit? Once in motion time moves forward for we, the traveler, while to an observer below we would appear motionless in the air.
It gets better let's increase our velocity to beyond the speed of light. Imagine taking off from your home at precisely 8am then orbiting the planet at a velocity twice the speed of light returning to your point of departure. This is getting quite difficult to deal with because it would seem when you arrive back that you have not yet departed, what happened to time? Obviously time for you, the traveler, would continue to advance yet an observer on the ground is likely to have some problems with what is happening.
Let's put this a better way: Imagine you accelerate away from a clock yet you can see the face of the clock no matter how far away you travel. If your rate of acceleration were to be precisely the speed of light it would appear to you the clock has stopped while time for you would continue to advance. Increase your velocity and with the perpetual visual picture of our clock still in front of our eyes it would appear to be operating in reverse. Our return trip would be perhaps more than a little disconcerting when the clock hands suddenly begin to move forward at a frighteningly rapid pace depending of course on how long we decided to continue our outward journey.
From the simple to the most complex of time theories time is an interesting phenomena to ponder. It can only be a relative concept to an observer, a traveler, an object in motion and of course there is a complex relationship with the speed of light. Our scientific prowess in the 21st century precludes faster than light travel however what is science fiction at a given point in time quite often becomes science fact of the future. Only time' will tell!
Learn more about this author, Ian Loft.
Click here to send Author comments or questions.
Real
Time is definitely real, only our experience of time is subjective. We can observe this by focusing on how we perceive time - distinguishing two events.
We use all our senses to distinguish events and hence experience time. When a ball falls, we see it go from high to low. High before, low afterward; two sequential visual events that help us experience time. When we hear a sound, we experience silence, sound, then silence again. This sequence of three events gives us another experience of time. A gust of wind, a sweet taste, hunger, pain - all these disappear and appear combining to give us an aggregate experience of time.
This experience is subjective to how our mind and sensory organs work - and, strangely, on how fast we are moving. If you see a sheet of blue paper followed by a sheet of yellow paper followed by blue and so on, in an ever increasing sequential rate, you will at first be able to distinguish the blue from the yellow. After some point the sequential rate becomes so fast that the sequence *appears* to be simultaneous to our eyes and mind and we see green! This is a clear example that time is real (blue follows yellow), but our perception of time is subjective (we don't see a sequence of blue following yellow, but something else entirely.)
I have stated enough to show that time is real, but if you want to see how our motion affects our time perception, read on. I am compelled to state that it may get a bit dense, but only a little.
In relativity theory, that blue-yellow paper sequence turning green is an example of the "illusion of simultaneity" - things may appear to happen at the same time but really it depends on a particular factor. That factor is how fast you happen to be moving with respect to an object, in this case our paper sequence. If you happen to be traveling near the speed of light away from the paper sequence, then light takes longer to get to you and you will be able to distinguish (I am assuming you have properly accounted for red-shifting of the light reaching you) the blue and yellow at rates that would have looked green if you were at rest. Similarly if you were traveling near light speeds towards the sequence you would see green at sequential rates that would have looked blue and yellow when you were at rest. This is exactly what astronomers use to identify the frequency of light, i.e. the color, of distant stars. It is also another example of how time, a sequential set of events, is real, but our perception of time is subjective to our speed relative to what we are perceiving.
Is there a way to have no time at all? Sure. Imagine a universe where no events happens. Nothing happens ever! How will you be able to tell past from future? There are no events to compare - no turning your head so your visual field changes, no heartbeat to keep count. Not a single moving molecule anywhere in the universe. This is called the absolute zero state of the universe and physicists have proved that it can never be achieved - because there would be no way to get the universe started again. (Universe is defined here as a collection of every existing object or entity known or unknown.)
In reading this article I hope that you perceived time pass quickly, meaning you were able to read and understand my article easily. If time seemed to pass slowly, I can only offer that at one point you were at the top of this article and now you are at the bottom, and hopefully it was real time well spent.
Learn more about this author, Doc Meson.
Click here to send Author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
