The Winged
Chariot of Time
The Winged
Chariot of Time |
The Physics of Time
“Time present and time pastAre both perhaps present in time futureAnd time future contained in time past.”T.S. Eliot; Four Quartets
Space and Time
“Distances are only the relation of space to time and vary with that relation.”Marcel Proust
We all use the word time just about every day. We talk about how much time we have left for the math period to end or how many hours a week we work or the time remaining till the start of our favourite television programme. But do we really know what time is when put into perspective with the laws that govern the rest of the universe? We often hear the phrase ‘space and time’ but we dismiss it as the language of scientists, often wondering what the two have to do with each other, since the layman’s perception of space is only what he saw in the last Star Wars movie. What we do not realize is that the two are inextricably linked, and, more importantly, they are both integral to the world in which we live. In fact, they are the physical building blocks that make up our existence, the ‘habitat’ in which all things dwell and have dwelt for eternity. We will now begin to examine exactly how the two make up our world and why they are so inseparable, and how time plays a large part in the proper physical functioning of our universe. Time is what allows us not only to measure the duration of events but also to determine when events in space occurred in relation to other events in space. This requires the establishment of a universal time-scale that can be used to compare the events, the determination of which depends on precise mathematical calculations derived from astronomical observations. Just as events can occur at different points in space at the same point in time, they can also occur at different points in time at the same point in space (how many times have my parents told me that they used to do exactly the same things as I do now, only thirty years ago). This brings us to realize that they must in some way be related. The fact is that we live in a four-dimensional universe, the ‘fabric’ of which is given the term ‘space-time.’ We are familiar with the three dimensions of space (length, breadth and height), and indeed with that of time, except that we never think of time as just being another dimension to our universe, basically because it is difficult, in fact, just about impossible, to imagine a four-dimensional universe. Indeed, it is often difficult to imagine three-dimensional space, especially where high-school math is involved. We often give points in space a discernible position by giving them three coordinates to establish their distance in all three dimensions relative to other points in space. It is almost like giving somebody the directions to your house by referring to various landmarks that the person may be familiar with. However, in order to establish the exact position of events in space-time, the only difference is that we must specify four coordinates for the event (three for space and one for time). Although the dimension theory is now widely accepted as a definition of time, there are some that continue to oppose it. From a philosophical viewpoint, time is more bewildering than space. Does it flow through our lives or do we flow through an endless sea of time? But this too is difficult to understand. There have been questions such as how many seconds of time flow in one second, suggesting that the ‘rate of flow’ of time is taken as relative to something else, a sort of hyper time, which in turn, to flow, would require a hyper-hyper time and so on indefinitely. Do future events occur as the present approaches them, or are they already there in a different time than that in which we live? How is it that we seem to have an internal clock that often wakes us up when the alarm doesn’t ring? These are questions that are difficult to answer, and bear testament to the fascination that man has had with time ever since the beginning of, well…time. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant, said that space and time were “phenomenally real” (part of the world as described by science) but “noumenally unreal” (not a part of the unknowable world of things in themselves). The burden of time on the shoulders of a man haunts him as it sweeps him closer to his death, and so it is likely that man will continue to try to find out more about this phenomenon which he has still not quite understood.
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
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