Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: mullermeister on 04/03/2012 11:28:53
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So how far do people think you could 'slow time' (as in change the speed of clocks, 1 second become 1.5 seconds long etc) before it became noticeable to others?
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What counts as a clock?
One of the first recorded "clocks" was a heartbeat.
If most clocks changed, but heart rates didn't then the doctors would notice pretty quickly.On the other hand, if your heart rate fell by 1.5 fold then you would probably notice.
Of course, if absolutely everything slowed to the same extent at the same time, nobody would know.
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It might depend on what you how were doing at the time and closely you were paying attention. We seem able to measure short intervals of time pretty accurately when we are singing or playing an instrument or playing sports. I don't know how the brain measures time, whether external events are compared to the speed of a bunch of neurons that fire at a consistant rate, or the rate of some chemical reaction, but there has to be some mechanism for it.
Most people can guess pretty accurately when an hour has passed, or even how long they have been asleep. Experiements with people in kept in windowless rooms prove that we do have internal day/night clocks, although over time they will get off with no environemental cues. I know fever will change a persons perception of time, but I don't remember if it slows down or speeds up. I think it slows down. Some drugs and alcohol seem to change perception of time too.