How would you define Time?

"Polonius", in trying to answer your question, asks four more good ones:

1) How does time flow?

2) Does time flow in only one direction?

3) Is there a constant "Universal Time"?

4) Is time a "real" Dimension?

In order to fully understand this Dimension called Time, we first need to understand Dimensions in general. Since we humans are of the 3rd. Dimensional and Time is of the 4th. Dimension (question # 4 above), it would be easier to step down a Dimensional level and compare 2 Dimensional beings with 3 Dimensional ones (that would be us).

A drawing of a village is an example of a 2-D world. They can only comprehend or perceive that which is in their 2nd. Dimension. If we were to hold a pencil just above the surface of the 2-D world, they still wouldn't be able to comprehend it because it is outside their dimensional existence.

Now if we were to push that pencil through the paper, the 3-D pencil would intersect with their 2-D plane and form what would appear to them as a flat disc: a small black point at first, which would then have an enlarging wooden disc surrounding it, followed by one with a brass ring, and finally just a solid rubber disc. But to us, it would still be just a pencil.

The flow of Dimensional interaction and involvement goes from a higher Dimension down to a lesser Dimension, but not the other way around (the answer to question #2 above). A one-way street, so to speak.

So stepping back up a dimensional level, the 4th. Dimension is "outside" or "beyond" the 3rd. Dimension. By that I mean we can only perceive that part of Time that intersects with our 3-D level of existence to form, what we commonly call, the "Present". So Time flows from the "Future" to the "Present" to finally the "Past" (the answer to question #1 above).

The Future is unknown, can't be controlled or altered, but can be planned for, even anticipated. Once it intersects with our 3-D reality (the Universe), it instantly becomes the Present and just as quickly, turns into the Past: immovable, unalterable, "carved in stone", a recordable memory that can later be referred to when needed. How we respond to the "Present" is what being in the Universe is all about.

Another way to think of Time is that of a dimensionl wave that's constantly moving forward, shifting and changing, depending on how we 3-D beings respond to it inorder to form the Present and thus make up the Past. I believe that the 4th. Dimension interacts with the 3rd. Dimension equelly everywhere (question to #3 above).

But because of the Universe being so vast and light having a speed limit of only 186,000 miles per second, we are able to "look into the Past" when make astronomical observations with our telescopes. This is because it take physical time for light to cross from point "A" in the Cosmos to point "B", whether it be a light second, a light minute, a light month, or the astronomical standard, a light year. What's happening out there is happening NOW. It's just that it will take awhile for us to know about it, like several 100,000 to tens of millions to even billions of years.

This "Past" observation may seem like the Present to us and be recorded as such, but in reality it's still a past event, no matter what it is: the birth of a star, a super nova, or the collision of two galaxies.

So when people come up with these convoluted theories and equations inorder to try and explain Time, they're using 3 Dimensional logic and understanding to explain a 4 Dimensional reality. They're trying to perceive the "pencil" that's outside their Dimensional existence. Can't be done.

Time is a Quantity , rather than a dimension ,which indicates how fast a process took place. It basically indicates the Past.The present is timeless and the Future is imaginary.

Time is conserved in the Universe just as mass and Energy are conserved.

Time in space can be indicated as a function of the pressure of Space divided by the Power per Unit Volume of the Substance of Space.

Time in the space of the Universe consists of the Integral of all Potential differences of time levels.Hence the Time Period of the Universe is a constant.

Potential Time Levels are determined by the Gravitational Potential .which follows the Field Curvature of the Substance of Space.

Dr.Stephen Hawking posited that Time in the Universe is" Pear Shaped", hence following a curvature.This Space curvature basically molds relative to the framework of a mass structure curvature presence ;hence must conforms to the Architecture of the Universe.

Therefore if a moving mass with constant volume traverses the different levels of Gravitational pressures ,it will experience different Time Periods of motion.

If Light is an entity moving with constant volume ,then its velocity is variable thru out the Universe,

The Speed of light that was measured during Einstein time was only relative to the Earth. No measurements so far have indicated the value of the speed of light at extreme parts of the Universe.

Therefore The gravitational potential of Space is Relative to Time potentials.

Einstein Relativity Theory indicates that Time is deterministic and is viewed based on the position of an observer.The Equations of Time by Einstein are relating to man made clocks.

Quantum Mechanics Theory indicates that Time is probabilistic and cannot be measured exactly while a mass is moving at one particular instance of position. Since time is non linear.Hence the Speed of Light measurement can be taken as an average only.

Not much is indicated by Science as to what phenomenon exists in a Timeless system.

We can begin to answer the question with the basic description that we are measuring the interval between events, using units that we have chosen for the purpose. We may say, for example, that the next train will be due in 5 minutes. While this information may be very useful for telling us how late the train is when it eventually arrives, it does nothing to describe just what it is that we are measuring. We want to know exactly what the 'interval' is.

In order to investigate the nature of time it may help to break it down into four main questions.

1) How does time flow?

2) Does time flow in only one direction?

3) Is there a constant 'Universal' time?

4) Is time a 'real' dimension?

Time is always related to Space in the Universe. The relationship between time and space is a curvature. Of course time is always relative in outer space and there are only three possible states:

a) expanding

b) shrinking or getting smaller

c) stationary or plane

It´s not easy to understand because time on earth is absolute, though inside the nuclear structure of the atoms, time is not absolute either, it can be relative.

Well, you´re asking for a definition of time in outer space. Let´s think of a line in the outer space on which a particle moves along at the speed v

v=x/t

t=x/v

Time in this case will be defined as distance divided by velocity. Well we know that the Universe is expanding and that definition is not correct.

tv=x

dt v + dv t= dx

dt=(dx-dv t)/v

This expression is more correct because time is related to changes in space and velocity. But all people say that space is curved and a line is flat. So that definition is not right either.

We have to express in a math way the space curvature and that involves that absolute time turns into relative time.

t=t(§)

§ represents the wave function on which our particle is moving. Our last equation turns into

dt(§)=(dx(§)-dv(§) t)/v

But you´re asking what § is. It´s a function wave that represents a curvature or a space time field, and as a wave it has got a frequency. It´s more like a Shrödinger function than a metric by Einstein. But it´s none of them either. And as a wave it has got a frequency and it has got a color. Here we can begin to talk about spectrum linked to time.

Of course we´ve supposed a line that´s it´s like a thread expanding and deforming itself, one of the easiest cases to study.

Time, in the end, is like Russell said about any other thing, something attached to the color a surface has got.

The homo-centric view of Time as per Kant or Leibniz seems to me to be flawed. Events throughout the Universe occur and sequence themselves without any input or observation by human beings, and must,therefor, be independant of them. Time is, rather, the increase of entropy of a system, in this case, the Universe, and gives rise to the expression "the arrow of time". Note, this only points in one direction, which, as Stephen Hawking said, means that although you see a cup fall from a table and smash, you never see it re-assemble itself, and jump back onto the table. Theoretically, in an infinitely long existance, the probability of this ceases to be zero, and might happen. However, we live in a real world, so don't hold your breath until you see it happen!

­If you have ever wanted to understand the fundamentals of relativity, then this edition of How Stuff Works will be incredibly interesting to you. In this edition the major principles of the theory are discussed in an accessible way so that you can understand the lingo and the theories involved. Once you understand these concepts, you will find that scientific news articles and science fiction stories are much more interesting! The links section offers three additional sources of information that you can tap into if you want to learn more.­

science.howstuffworks.com

Time is a human construct that allows our limited perceptive ability to make sense of events we are able to observe.

Event A and event B occur.

Observer 1 perceives A before B

Observer 2 perceives B before A

Observer C perceives A and B simultaneously

The only change was the observers perception.

Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining time in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars.

In physics and other sciences, time is considered one of the few fundamental quantities.[2] Time is used to define other quantities – such as velocity – and defining time in terms of such quantities would result in circularity of definition.[3] An operational definition of time, wherein one says that observing a certain number of repetitions of one or another standard cyclical event (such as the passage of a free-swinging pendulum) constitutes one standard unit such as the second, is highly useful in the conduct of both advanced experiments and everyday affairs of life. The operational definition leaves aside the question whether there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows and that can be measured. Investigations of a single continuum called space-time brings the nature of time into association with related questions into the nature of space, questions that have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy.

Among prominent philosophers, there are two distinct viewpoints on time. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. Time travel, in this view, becomes a possibility as other "times" persist like frames of a film strip, spread out across the time line. Sir Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is sometimes referred to as Newtonian time.[4][5] The opposing view is that time does not refer to any kind of "container" that events and objects "move through", nor to any entity that "flows", but that it is instead part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which humans sequence and compare events. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz[6] and Immanuel Kant,[7][8] holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be traveled.

Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists, and was a prime motivation in navigation and astronomy. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, the swing of a pendulum, and the beat of a heart. Currently, the international unit of time, the second, is defined in terms of radiation emitted by caesium atoms (see below). Time is also 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 life spans.

elegance is something it is pleasing to seem at and/or be round. even as i imagine of a appropriate human being i imagine of someone with a good heart, and an relaxing personality. and definitely there is actual elegance which isn't as significant, besides the indisputable fact that it is tremendous even as it is there. grotesque, is the option, no longer pleasing to seem at and/or be round. even as someone is treating yet another badly we (my babies and that i) say that, that human being is being grotesque. It would not ought to do with appearances (as quickly right this moment of it) yet really their habit.

A neverending sort of "spring" or "vacuum" in space that contains possibly every event that ever happens and that is happening. We can't see it or feel it. And time does not happen on a straight path. It sort of worms all over the place.