4 ms·

Yeah but 'fast' is also defined in terms of time...

by jujulet 8y ago

saagarjha 8y ago
Exactly, it's a relative thing.
- jujulet 8y ago
  Maybe I'm missing something, but you're basically saying 'the speed of time is a function of the speed of time'.
  - ablerman 8y ago
    Someone please correct me if I misunderstand, but it might be more useful to phrase it as, "the speed through time is a function of the speed through space"
    - scottie_m 8y ago
      The whole point of relativity is that space and time are part of the same fabric: spacetime. Movement through both is relative, and inseparable. The Lorentz factor is a factor for distance, time, and mass.
      - mikekchar 8y ago
        Even the word "movement" indicates this connection. You can not move if you have no time. And although it may be hard to imagine, the opposite is also true. Time doesn't really make any sense without space -- nothing can happen and therefore it can't take time. I am not a physicist, but I like to imagine that space actually created time. As soon as something separates from a singularity, you have time. It also makes me feel a lot more comfortable about quantum physics. Once you get smaller than a Lorenz wavelength, you don't really have space any more, just a probability that a particle may be somewhere and it magically teleports around. Well, you have to expect that, really, because if travel no distance, it can not (by definition) take any time. Probably not actually how things work, but it makes my brain happy anyway...
  - TallGuyShort 8y ago
    There are multiple references frames, and events can appear to be happening at different rates in different frames. So what you said actually does make sense because there are any number of references frames, each with their own view of how fast events are happening.
antonvs 8y ago
The rate at which time passes is relative. You can in fact express this in terms of "seconds/second", as in how many seconds pass in some other reference frame for each second in yours. In that sense, the "speed of time" can in fact be meaningful. Relativity provides a more rigorous way of modeling this, treating spacetime as a four-dimensional manifold. When you move through the spatial dimensions relative to some reference frame, the rate of your motion through time is reduced relative to that same reference frame. This is commonly modeled on a spacetime diagram: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_diagram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_diagram

Yeah but 'fast' is also defined in terms of time...

saagarjha 8y ago

Exactly, it's a relative thing.

jujulet 8y ago
Maybe I'm missing something, but you're basically saying 'the speed of time is a function of the speed of time'.
- ablerman 8y ago
  Someone please correct me if I misunderstand, but it might be more useful to phrase it as, "the speed through time is a function of the speed through space"
  - scottie_m 8y ago
    The whole point of relativity is that space and time are part of the same fabric: spacetime. Movement through both is relative, and inseparable. The Lorentz factor is a factor for distance, time, and mass.
    - mikekchar 8y ago
      Even the word "movement" indicates this connection. You can not move if you have no time. And although it may be hard to imagine, the opposite is also true. Time doesn't really make any sense without space -- nothing can happen and therefore it can't take time. I am not a physicist, but I like to imagine that space actually created time. As soon as something separates from a singularity, you have time. It also makes me feel a lot more comfortable about quantum physics. Once you get smaller than a Lorenz wavelength, you don't really have space any more, just a probability that a particle may be somewhere and it magically teleports around. Well, you have to expect that, really, because if travel no distance, it can not (by definition) take any time. Probably not actually how things work, but it makes my brain happy anyway...
- TallGuyShort 8y ago
  There are multiple references frames, and events can appear to be happening at different rates in different frames. So what you said actually does make sense because there are any number of references frames, each with their own view of how fast events are happening.

antonvs 8y ago

The rate at which time passes is relative. You can in fact express this in terms of "seconds/second", as in how many seconds pass in some other reference frame for each second in yours. In that sense, the "speed of time" can in fact be meaningful. Relativity provides a more rigorous way of modeling this, treating spacetime as a four-dimensional manifold. When you move through the spatial dimensions relative to some reference frame, the rate of your motion through time is reduced relative to that same reference frame. This is commonly modeled on a spacetime diagram: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_diagram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_diagram