An explanation of what Time is

Time is a somewhat nebulous concept, for although we can measure it with fantastic accuracy, can understand its effects (e.g. the passage of time) and can deal with it mathematically in a plethora of

different ways, it is very difficult to pin down what Time is.

In Minkowski’s four dimensional Space-time, length (or distance) is the magnitude of the space between two space-like points, while time is the magnitude of the separation of two time-like points.

Let us consider then, how Time is measured. Like all measurements it is a comparison with another measure of the same kind: one that is set as a standard. So Time is measured by comparison with another time; usually from a ‘timekeeper’, or clock. That is a device that has a recurring process with a reliably repeated duration.

In fact there is a clue to the essential nature of Time in that it can only be measured against another time. Time does not exist of itself; it is one of the outcomes of change, for every change has a duration.

Is Time Absolute?

Time is the heartbeat of the Universe. Every change, every process has a duration. That duration is absolute and fixed. It is how we measure that duration that can vary according to circumstance.

The passage of time is the outcome of an infinite number of changes, from those whose duration is too small to be measured to those that have lasted since the Big Bang, as long as Time itself.

It is against this background of ongoing change that we measure Time. We may use more local comparisons on different proportions, from the incredibly small to the gigantic.

As time exists only as a comparison to other times, it is, essentially, unchanging i.e. Universal or Absolute Time.

For when Time seems to quicken or to slow, it is only the duration of a change, of a process, that is dilating or contracting. More, or less, is happening within a specific time slice. Processes are progressing faster or slower against this Universal Time but they do not, cannot define time.

No clock can measure time passing faster or slower, for Time is Absolute. The universal background of changes, the duration of those changes is what makes time.

Time is often described as another dimension but is this any more than a mathematical device for making calculations?

Time as a Dimension

Time is said to be measured, in part, as an imaginary number.

If time has to be normal to all three space-like dimensions then surely it must be normal to all three simultaneously, in fact to any Space-like point.

So how does that work?

How can it work?

Can we answer that without being able to imagine 4 dimensions?

Well yes, I do believe we can! Because the answer is in the fact that the fourth, Time-like dimension is fundamentally different from our Space-like dimensions. Even as a mathematical device it is an odd one, for squared, it has a negative sign, unlike our other three space-like dimensions.

Another difference that we should consider is that a single point in time occurs on each and every space point. It has to, so that space point can, with the addition of that time point become an event.

For a single space-like dimension is a line extending the whole of that single dimension, for two dimensions it is a plane extending across the whole of that 2D space, for three it must be a solid that includes the whole of the 3D space that we know, i.e. the whole of space time.

And if that is true we must have a similar expanse for each and every Time point.

So if we were to define a particular time point by a colour, for instance, than we would see the whole of space change colour as Time progressed and we would be able to refer to simultaneous events as all being the same colour on a progressing scale.

From this it becomes evident that there is one Space-time and that synchronous events are synchronous whereever they are observed from.

It is the whole of Space where every point has the same time. Where every Space-point has a synchronous event. Think about it. It has to be!

But enough for now we will consider this further when we look at the Simultaneity of Relativity.

So what is Special Relativity; what does it do?

Relativity by Escher

What is special relativity?Every system of coordinates can map the whole of Spacetime but how do we take the measurements, the coordinates from one system and convert them to be relative to another system of coordinates?To put it another way; how do we make the measurements and coordinates of a spatial framework, a system, relative to a passing observer?

By adding the vector (magnitude and direction) of their relative velocity to each and every measurement or coordinate.

This works fine until we approach the speed of light which Einstein added as a limiting postulate in his Special Relativity.

Using the Lorentz Factor to adjust or transform those measurements resolved the difficulty, but how?

By rotating the system of coordinates into another dimension.

Yes, another dimension.

Sounds extreme maybe, but consider:
in one dimension we rotate into a second dimension to form a triangle;
in two dimensions we rotate into a third dimension to form a cone;
in three dimensions we rotate into a fourth dimension to form what? A four dimensional figure that we cannot picture!

But in each case the rotation accounts for the addition of a vector in another dimension and so doing it exactly fulfils the formulation of the Lorentz Transformation Equations.

So we add the relative velocity using the Lorentz Transformations and it resolves the problem of the limiting speed of light.

We can take any 3 dimensional set of coordinates – or 4 dimensional when we include Time as a temporal dimension – and, by adding the relative velocity of a moving observer by means of the Lorentz Transformation Equations, by means of an extra dimension, we can recalculate that system relative to the moving observer.

This does not effect the Newtonian Rotation that determines directions but adds the additional, Minkowski Rotation, to that set of coordinates and thereby we remain within the confines of the speed of light
This does not effect the Newtonian Rotation that determines directions but adds the additional, Minkowski Rotation, to that set of coordinates and thereby we remain within the confines of the speed of light.

Does time exist?

Does time exist? Or, did it exist before the invention of the clock?

What is a clock measuring? Is it measuring anything?

All it is doing is making comparisons, “what was the duration of this compared to that?”

All actions, all processes, have duration. It is the infinite number of concurrent processes that give the impression of a constant consistent flow of time, but is time constant and consistent? Or are the variations in the way we experience time real?

If two identical clocks ‘tick’ at different rates due to the conditions they are subject to, then those ‘ticks’ are of different durations. Yet each is the duration of the same process and, as stated above, we use processes to define time.

So we could say that a process defines a certain amount of time but the magnitude of that time depends on the conditions under which that time was created …

What’s it all about Albert?

What’s it all about Albert?

Special Relativity – the Long and the Short of it – all a bit Hit and Myth?

Light has only one dimension!

I have had a little Epiphany!
I was musing upon the notion that when we view a moving body it is ‘rotated’, in Minkowski’s 4 dimensional Spacetime as a function of the velocity. (When it is a substantial fraction of the speed of light.)
Anyway it suddenly dawned on me that that would mean that all those four dimensions would merge into one as it reached the speed of light. A natural limit that would explain lights dual nature, being part wave and part particle!

Maps and Rules

The world that we are born into is a strange place and is different for every one of us.

As we grow and learn about our world and the way it works we create two things to help us.

The first is a World Map of how everything fits together; and the second is the Laws of Our Universe, the way things work for us.

At the centre of our World Map is Home, where we exist; and around that are our family and friends and so on, out into the wider world.

Our Map is fixed but the LOU may change as we move outwards, being different with family, with friends, depending on where we are.

If we have the right love, care and support we make sense of it all. Home becomes a fortress, a Castle, a Refuge, built out of our knowledge and belief, in the world as we know it.

Everyone’s world, though, is unique. For some, their world is a frightening confusing place where their Map isn’t stable, where their Home is fragile and the Laws of their Universe are fluid and continuously changing.

Abuse and lack of understanding, can make it difficult to build anything permanent. When Home is repeatedly torn down and destroyed; their Map redrawn and their LOU constantly changing.

Autism Spectrum Disorders brings another challenge, to learn and understand that outside Home the wider world runs according to the Laws of a different Universe. With the right love, support and understanding though, a strong Home may still be built and those Laws of the Other Universe understood. But without that support things may be very different. Those Laws are conflicting and confusing, and if we cannot marry the two we can find it very difficult, even impossible to deal with it.

This can result in those with ASD building a strong isolated tower and retreating into it, or they may feel little security where their Home is continuously under threat from the wider world.

PTSD

But no Home is indestructible, a sufficient Trauma may sweep it all away or else leave it in ruins and tear up the subject’s LOU, leaving them in a strange world where things can no longer be relied upon.

Post Traumatic Stress is the result. Leaving one to try to rebuild from the ruins.

With support and assistance given immediately much can be rebuilt, but if that is not available the ruins can become set. Then over time a new Home is built upon the ruins of the old. But, though some parts may still remain it is very different to what went before and flimsy, having little of the original strength.

This leaves it susceptible to damage by any further Trauma, even everyday stresses may cause more damage or even topple it once more.

For those whose Home was weak from abuse or lack of understanding and acceptance, everyday stresses can be difficult to bear and they need much love, support and, above all acceptance, from those around.

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