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On the Lighter Side
New Theories
What’s The Time?
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What’s The Time?
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MikeS
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The Devils Advocate
What’s The Time?
«
on:
24/08/2011 11:53:06 »
Quote: John Wheeler
"Mass tells space-time how to curve, and space-time tells mass how to move."
Light travels in a straight line.
Light travels in a straight line in curved space-time.
The distance between two points in curved space-time is further than between two points in a straight line.
As a photon travels instantaneously it does not experience time but the speed of light is finite, why is that? Could it be that what we call time is the
delay
between a photon traveling in a straight line and a photon traveling a straight line in curved space-time, as a line in curved space-time is longer? The more highly curved that space-time is the greater the time dilation. A black hole has infinite gravity and no passage of time. Think of nested spheres with each sphere representing a particular time dilation with the innermost spheres being the most highly curved and most time dilated. The greater the mass the closer together the nested spheres. The less the mass, the more spaced out the nested spheres. No mass, no gravity, no nested spheres, no time.
What can we deduce from this? It is mass (gravity) that gives time an arrow but it does not make the clock tick. What does a clock need to make it go? Energy, in this case in the form of photons, which are pure energy. Photons we know travel instantaneously from their ‘point of view’ but travel at a finite speed from our ‘point of view’. Gravity by introducing a
delay
creates time. We can infer from this that without gravity the speed of light would be infinite and we have already seen that without mass (gravity) there would be no arrow of time so the speed of light would be infinite in both directions at once. There would be no causality. In fact, time, as we know it would not exist. Added 03-08-11
Whilst gravity causes space-time to curve, energy reduces that curvature.
Energy is what powers things to happen. Gravity by creating time stops everything from happening all at once.
The ratio between energy and mass (gravity) defines how fast the clock ticks. The higher the energy the faster the clock ticks. The higher the mass (gravity) the slower the clock ticks.
Although I have put this in new theories there is actually very little that is new in it. It is
mainly
an assemblage of known facts put together in a simple and intuitive manner to explain what (I believe) time is.
Added 03-09-11
Time dilation/contraction = energy/mass. This should be true both for the universe as a whole or locally.
It should be possible to test if it is true on a local scale by flying an atomic clock close by the Sun. We can estimate the mass of the Sun and can therefore estimate time dilation at any altitude above its surface. If time dilation/contraction is a result of E/m then the time dilation should be less than predicted by only considering mass and not energy.
Added 03-09-11 1445
If gravity and acceleration are equivalent then gravity is no more than an acceleration but an acceleration in what? It has to be non-directional in a spatial sense and that only leaves an acceleration in time. Acceleration contains a time factor, therefore any change in the passage of time will affect acceleration. The passage of time is slower on the surface of the Earth becoming progressively faster the further away you get. If the passage of time is slowest on the Earth and the Earth is traveling through time then the Earth must be
accelerating
in time.
Mass accelerating through time causes the effect of gravity.
Gravity is the deformation of space-time by mass in trying to:-
1) reach the highest gravitational potential
2) reach the lowest energy level
3) reach the highest entropy level
4) reduce the universe to its minimum size
5) reduce the passage of time to a minimum
Added 04-09-11 1250
This is one means of picturing the Earth (or any object) accelerating in time.
Think of a film of a puddle of water. As a raindrop hits the surface, concentric ripples radiate outwards.
If you reverse the film, the ripples radiate inward.
If you image the Earth to be at the centre and the inwardly radiating ripples as being time, it can be seen that the Earth is traveling through time. The innermost rings (ripples) represent the most dilated time with the passage of time increasing the further out into space you go.
This differential in the passage of time represents an acceleration in time.
Added 05-09-11 Or more correctly space-time.
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Last Edit: 05/09/2011 12:25:28 by MikeS
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MikeS
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The Devils Advocate
What’s The Time?
«
Reply #1 on:
08/09/2011 13:45:34 »
General relativity says that gravity is an acceleration but to the best of my knowledge it does not attempt to explain what that means.
General relativity also says that gravity dilates time. Such that time passes slower on the Earth getting progressively faster further away from the Earth.
"Acceleration contains a time factor, therefore any change in the passage of time will affect acceleration. The passage of time is slower on the surface of the Earth becoming progressively faster the further away you get.
Connecting the dots you get.
"If the passage of time is slowest on the Earth and the Earth is traveling through time then the Earth must be accelerating in time."
(This differential in the passage of time represents an acceleration in time.)
Therefore
"Mass accelerating through time causes the effect of gravity."
Or more correctly (but more difficult to picture) Mass accelerating through space-time causes the effect of gravity which is to curve space-time.
Is this not worthy of a comment? Please, either agree or tell my why you think it is wrong.
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Last Edit: 08/09/2011 13:49:22 by MikeS
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The Devils Advocate
What’s The Time?
«
Reply #2 on:
20/09/2011 08:19:26 »
The above two posts explain what causes the affect known as gravity.
This post explains how gravity affects objects.
An object free falling to Earth is seen to be accelerating.
An object free falling to Earth is experiencing time dilating more and more the closer it gets to the Earth.
Time dilating allows more distance to be covered per unit time.
This is acceleration due to time dilation.
This is an affect of gravity.
(For Earth, substitute any 'large' gravitating mass.)
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