Do Physical Laws Describe the Passage of Time?
Most people agree that time moves and they talk about the passing of time. There are many sayings about time, but don't take them as descriptions of time.
We are familiar with time, but we don’t know everything about time. Time isn’t physical, and physical laws cannot describe time. Let me explain.
Time is a description of the movement that we see and experience.
We don’t experience time. We experience living, eating, and sleeping.
We measure our events by using the hours and minutes that a clock shows us.
So, time is a description, and events are what we experience. The events move, and clocks move. Time, on the other hand, describes the moment and duration of events.
Descriptions don’t move but a clock's ticking moves, and we use the clock’s time to describe the motion of things that move.
It’s a small difference in meaning. Clocks move, and we move, while time is the measurement of our movement. It isn’t easy to explain.
Cars and trains move, and time describes the speed of movement.
The passage of life and our physical experiences are described by time and timekeeping tools.
Physical laws govern our eating, sleeping, and motion events. We describe these events using a clock’s time.
Because we know the numbers on a clock move, we say time moves.
However, time is a description of Earth's rotation, and we measure every other motion using the numbers on a clock.
Do You Understand Time?
How do you define time? It isn’t straightforward because you have a personal experience with time.
You can feel time moving when you breathe and hear your heart beating.
You feel movement, and you can measure your motion by counting. How fast am I breathing? How long does it take to walk to the store?
But do you know what a clock’s time means?
You have your personal experience of time, making it challenging to define time.
You live in your personal movement and follow the impersonal time on a clock.
To keep track of our lives, we needed a way to know the days of the week and the hours during the day.
Scientists invented clocks to keep track of the day and maintain accuracy.
But do you realize that a clock’s ticking doesn't measure time? A clock keeps ticking continuously at the rate the Earth rotates.
Time is an invention that uses clocks synchronized to the movement of our planet.
Scientists divided one day of Earth's rotation into 86,400 seconds.
One tick on a clock is called one second, and we measure every motion and duration of events by a number of seconds, minutes, or hours.
For instance, the speed of light moves about 3 x 10*8 meters in one second because we measure it based on Earth's rotation.
We have invented the word "time" to mean what the numbers on a clock show.
If you ask, what time is it? A clock shows a number corresponding to your time zone.
We have learned to synchronize our time with the clock's display. If you travel halfway around the world, your time gets mixed up, and you experience jet lag.
Time is based on the measurement of Earth's motion, and we translate it from a clock to our mind.
Without a clock, you wouldn't know the time of day. You need more than a clock’s numbers to tell you the time of day.
If a clock shows 12:00 and the sun is overhead, you can easily guess it’s noon and time for lunch.
What is time?
Time seems personal because you organize your day with the day's events. You prioritize your day with what you need to do within your available time.
Your time consists of events and durations measured by your watch and schedule. How you think about time governs how you live your life.
The human invention of time is used to keep track of our daily events.
Our time is based on the motion of one Earth day as it spins on its axis. But we don’t understand time.
Remember that time is based on measuring Earth’s motion, but time is not motion.
You use a clock to keep track of your day. You live inside Earth's motion, and there’s no way to make Earth go backward, slow down or move faster.
You and I live in this motion, and we keep track of our life using clocks and calendars. Time is a description of our movement during the events we experience.
If we didn’t have clocks, we would go to work at sunrise and go home at sunset.
Instead, our work starts at 8 am sharp and ends at 5 pm, and we count down the minutes as our quitting time nears.
To summarize, time is how we keep track of our daily events, and clocks were invented to accurately measure the movement we experience and feel.
Clocks are used to measure events, and the measurement is called time. Basically, time is what a clock shows.
My new book Einstein Misled By Time gives you more information about every aspect of time. Here's the link to my book on Amazon.
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