Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The idea of time
The idea of time
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Introduction What is time? We may be tempted to assume everyone has a notion of time that is the consistent with one another. A part of that “intuitive” notion of time contains the absoluteness of time – that time ticks at the same rate no matter what and it is independent. Even if an apocalypse were to happen to Earth, time will still flow nonchalantly. Yet, in the early 19th Century, Albert Einstein’s “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” or more affectionately known as the Special Relativity paper, confounded our common notions of time, as well as space. The theory could explain many weird phenomena like Stella Abberation , Fizeau’s experiment , Michelson-Morley’s Experiments . It also hypothesized mass-energy (which led to nuclear power plants) and predicted relativity of simultaneity , both of which has been proven at a later time. It has survived the requirements of the scientific method and was on the way to become one of the most famous scientific paper. But the caveat of accepting such a brilliant theory was that our notion of time and space would have to be revised into Minkowski space-time. Space could no longer be talked about as independent of time, nor vice versa. A famous, unintuitive consequence is that time is no longer absolute and independent of space. As the speed of an object gets close to the speed of light, the object would experience a slowdown in time with magnitudes described by the Lorentz transformations. The two revision of the concept of time by Special Relativity (namely the absoluteness and independency of time) are usually seen in the light of greater knowledge about the physical world. Slowing down time and thus, ageing could be the holy grail for the beauty industry, but for an avid physics... ... middle of paper ... ...magnetism and whether the magnet in the first scenario is moving or not depends on which inertial frame of reference one makes his observation . If one sits stationary on top of the coil, one will see the magnet moving and an electric field is induced around him. However, if one were to sit on top of the moving magnet, then to him, the magnet is not moving and the coil is moving towards the magnet. Thus, what one will observe is that the moving coil induces a magnetic field around him. Then, is there a magnetic or electric field between the magnet and coil (refer to figure 1)? Which is the objective truth? In Einstein’s mind, he saw that the existence of electric or magnetic field is relative. Only taken together as electromagnetic fields can they be “ascribed a kind of objective reality” . This, according to Einstein leads to his conviction of the First Postulate.
If you have ever read Einstein's Dreams, you can appreciate my dilemma. If you have not yet had the opportunity to experience this wonderful novel by Alan Lightman, I guarantee that after you read it you will expand your perception of the nature of time and of human activity. The novel is enchanting. It is a fictional account of what one of the greatest scientific minds dreams as he begins to uncover his theory of relativity.
time. Not just for its special effects, but for the philosophical meaning behind it. To
Time, as defined in the Oxford Dictionary, is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. Time, scientifically, is a concept in which humans use numbers to set up reference points throughout the existence of mankind. This concept uses units of time as large as millenniums to smaller units such as milliseconds. In the short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the writer uses a structure that lacks a chronological order, foreshadowing diction, and Irony to convey a fear of the time of death. The main character, Peyton Farquhar, struggles to savor every second left in his life. This senseless battle against an unwavering fate tells that one should welcome his/her time of death.
What is time? Is time travel possible? When nothing is changing does time still exits ? Is that really true? Are you real? Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that is significant to us when questions and other clams bring curiosity about whether things are real or not.
From this he concluded that light always travels at the speed of light. It never slows down. Einstein asked the question: "What happens if we chase after a beam of light, at light speed?" From reasoning based on Newton's laws of motion, one can assume that the light would appear stationary. But according to Maxwell's theory, light cannot be stationary. Einstein solved this problem through his special theory of relativity.
The theories of relativity were revolutionary. Everybody agrees that Einstein brought about this revolution. Even the people that claim that Einstein just tweaked the theories of Lorentz and Poincaré, admit that Einstein was the first to recognize the physical meaning of the formulations. He understood that the terms and concepts like those of absolute space and absolute time must lose there meaning and other concepts had to replace them, if we were to be able to understand the phenomena of electrodynamics. All this is consistent with a scientific revolution as conceived of by Kuhn. It is then possible to express the revolution in science that Einstein started in terms of Kuhn’s paradigms and paradigm shifts.
That's the difference. Young physicists who play the "who's smarter" game are really asking, "how will I measure up?" Is there a shot to match -- if not Maxwell, then perhaps Lorentz? But Einstein? Don't go there. Match this:
This disproves time because if time was tangible then it would have to be constant and apply to all things at once rather than only affect things based on perspective. One of the reasons why time is relative is due to the fact that on a cosmic scale time is determined by isolating a section of space and then using a relationship between a number of parts like a solar system to determine the clock for that section.The reason why time is determined like this on a cosmic scale is due to the fact that the universe is constantly expanding infinitely which creates the paradox of certain parts being older than others but equally as old because they are part of the same universe. Another reason why time is relative is due to the fact that similar to a DVD when a movie is being watched
I always thought that time passes too quickly for me to pause, take a step back, and really evaluate and elongate the present that I am living in right now. One day, it’s the beginning of 2013, and the year past by so quickly just before my eyes that it’s suddenly 2014 already. Where has my time gone? Why did it pass by so quickly? In reality, it wasn’t time moving quickly, it was my own fault. I let time go by without even stopping and taking a moment to appreciate the time that I have now. I have a bad habit of thinking in the future and recalling the past that I don’t take a single second to even live in the present. My thoughts are so scrambled up and confused about the concept that I don’t get to fully inhale the true meaning of time.
Herbert George (H.G.) Wells’ 1895 scientific romance novella, The Time Machine, is considered to be one of the forerunners of the science fiction genre. Whilst the story was not the first to explore the concept of time travel, it is quite significant for its pseudoscientific account of how time travel could perhaps occur, this interpretation has shown to be quite influential to numerous productions in both media and literature. Wells explores a number of themes throughout this novella, however there are three prominent ones, the relativity of time, social Darwinism and evolution, and capitalism. These themes explore concepts which are relevant to society and creates connections with the intended 19th century audience.
...pecial relativity has caused profound changes in the way we view our universe at its most fundamental level. The theory has had an effect on many areas of science, especially physics. Even though many people did not think that special relativity was anything more than a theoretical idea, it has been tested numerous times. In every case, the predictions of special relativity are upheld. Special relativity is a cornerstone upon which modern physics has been built, and it is one of the greatest discoveries of the twentieth century.
Sir Isaac Newton came up with many theories of time and space. Euclid said that there can be a concept of a straight line but Newton said nothing could ever travel in a straight line, see illustration below.
The phenomenon called electromagnetic induction was first noticed and investigated by Michael Faraday, in 1831. Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) in a conductor as a result of a changing magnetic field about the conductor and is a very important concept. Faraday discovered that, whenever the magnetic field about an electromagnet was made to grow and collapse by closing and opening the electric circuit of which it was a part, an electric current could be detected in a separate conductor nearby. Faraday also investigated the possibility that a current could be produced by a magnetic field being placed near a coiled wire. Just placing the magnet near the wire could not produce a current. Faraday discovered that a current could be produced in this situation only if the magnet had some velocity. The magnet could be moved in either a positive or negative direction but had to be in motion to produce any current in the wire. The current in the coil is called an induced current, because the current is brought about (or “induced”) by a changing magnetic field (Cutnell and Johnson 705). The induced current is sustained by an emf. Since a source of emf is always needed to produce a current, the coil itself behaves as if it were a source of emf. The emf is known as an induced emf. Thus, a changing magnetic field induces an emf in the coil, and the emf leads to an induced current (705). He also found that moving a conductor near a stationary permanent magnet caused a current to flow in the wire as long as it was moving as in the magnet and coiled wire set-up.
...re are events that are closer to you in time, and events that are further away. But, in the block universe theory time does not flow past you. It does not and cannot because there is no physical thing that can be defined as time. George Ellis, a cosmologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa believes that the block universe theory contradicts reality. Ellis says that "It doesn't represent the passage of time, and that's one of the most fundamental features of daily life. So it's a bad model of reality." Furthermore, he said that in accepting block universe theory, attempting to understand anything about anything becomes meaningless. According to Ellis, the entire process of science depends on time moving forward. We form, test, and accept or reject a hypothesis in a process that moves through time. In human life we need time to move forward as a society.