Posted on 04/16/2005 4:19:09 PM PDT by beavus
The concept of time is self-evident. An hour consists of a certain number of minutes, a day of hours and a year of days. But we rarely think about the fundamental nature of time.
Time is passing non-stop, and we follow it with clocks and calendars. Yet we cannot study it with a microscope or experiment with it. And it still keeps passing. We just cannot say what exactly happens when time passes.
Time is represented through change, such as the circular motion of the moon around the earth. The passing of time is indeed closely connected to the concept of space.
According to the general theory of relativity, space, or the universe, emerged in the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago. Before that, all matter was packed into an extremely tiny dot. That dot also contained the matter that later came to be the sun, the earth and the moon – the heavenly bodies that tell us about the passing of time.
Before the Big Band, there was no space or time.
“In the theory of relativity, the concept of time begins with the Big Bang the same way as parallels of latitude begin at the North Pole. You cannot go further north than the North Pole,” says Kari Enqvist, Professor of Cosmology.
One of the most peculiar qualities of time is the fact that it is measured by motion and it also becomes evident through motion.
According to the general theory of relativity, the development of space may result in the collapse of the universe. All matter would shrink into a tiny dot again, which would end the concept of time as we know it.
“Latest observations, however, do not support the idea of collapse, rather inter-galactic distances grow at a rapid pace,” Enqvist says.
If you want to know more about the topic, visit Kari Enqvist’s website at http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~enqvist/.
Text: Simo Salmela Picture: ESO www.helsinki.fi/digitalcommunications
Translation: Valtasana Oy
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
It is really great after you watch it 3 times and then engage in conversation about it...truly thought provoking movie...
Lends perspective to our existence...
Time is an epiphenomenon.
What is time? God's way of keeping everything from happening at once...8^)
Well, of *course* ... before the Big Band, there was no time!
"I am the very model of a modern Major General."
"Recall Newton's definition of time ("Absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without relation to anything external..."). By this definition, time is something that defines itself and exists without any cause or mover. This fits both Aquinas' and Adler's view of what God is. It is astounding to think of the possibility that time, or the more sophisticated space-time, might be God!"
From an essay I wrote 20 years ago converning time and religion.
in star trek, using the slingshot effect, if you turn left, you go backwards in time, if you turn right, you go forwards.
If I correctly understand the article and comments, the extremely tiny dot was there before, only there's no such thing as "before," only they have to say "before" to convey the concept of one thing preceding another. But there was no time, before the Big Band. (Only Newsweek and the National Review.)
Bach and digeridoos.
So if I sit really still, maybe I won't have to go to work?
Palestrina.
Not for white guys.
Epiphenomenon of what?
Time. Yet another reason to believe God exists.
OK, I forgot some steps!
Of what? That's even worse.
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