The Science of Time Perception. Was Einstein right about time?

Everyone has at least once in their lifetime asked themselves what is time, can it be explained and why sometimes time seems to go faster than usual. According to physics theories time is relative and it bends. For a body in motion time moves faster and the bigger the mass, the more it attracts. Time on Earth and somewhere else in the universe is experienced differently. There are different calendars to measure time. A julian day, according to which a day is 24h as on Earth and Julian day used for space mission and travel. A Siderial day is the time it takes for Earth to rotate once on its axis so stars will appear in the same position of the sky. A sidereal day is 23h and 56m. According to this calendar, today is 24255.

A human believe on time is his on her observstions and sensations between years and lifetime experiences and that whenever you do new things, new hobbies and add something new to your daily routine, time moves slower, getting into the routines and mostly with time as we age, we become more accustomed to our routines, then we experience time faster. Have you ever wondered that time may only exist as a metric in our life so that we make sense of events.

In early civilisation days, time was measured using natural phenomenon such as the sun rising and sunsets, and the position of the stars. More on our perspective on time, time exists as the relationship between objects and events rather than in reality. Or more simply, our consciousness on the world. I’ve oftentimes asked myself why time flies and the questions I have received is gravity. Exploring further time is the metric of how we record past, present and future events but the topic is a little more complex than that.

Time and time dilation:

Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that where gravity is stronger, time passes more slowly. That’s called time dilation. Gravity is stronger closer to the centre of the Earth. So, according to Einstein, time should pass more slowly closer to the ground. One way to look at time is like a sea or a river that bends and flows depending on gravitational pulls and space-time. According to space-time all events in the universe from past to future exist simultaneously together, also described in the Block theory of the universe, containing every element that is to happen or will happen. According to Einstein theory the only purpose of time is so that past, present and future does not happen in the same time. Does this suggestions propel that our choices are predetermined?

My questionable takes and contrary to the above is that if the universe is ever expanding, time cannot be a part of a block universe but rather a continuum. Our choices and many of the natural events on our Earth and beyond are influenced by physical laws but with advancement of intellect and consciousness, we treat our own choices independently and more carefully. Are there true choices?

Time, space travel and time dilation:

Two friends - Martial leaving Earth and Maria, observing from Earth. Let us assume both were the same age. The spaceship with Martial accelerates away from Earth. When the spaceships returns, it decelerate to avoid crash landing. In not leaving and returning, the spaceship changes its frame of reference and the person in space can feel the changes of motion. This breaks the symmetry of both situations and when Martial returns on Earth, he will be younger than the Earthbound friend and the simple explanations is motion (velocity) with which the spacecraft moves compared to other objects. This means that if we observe objects or humans on exoplanets or even further stars, we see them couple of years ago measured on Earth time.

Time according to quantum physics is different than the traditional physic explanation where time is linear. In quantum physics, time is a constant.

Is there a theory that explains all where time is dependent on motion and gravity but also time is real? If the universe is expanding, all objects are moving in space and time exists as a metric as we move as well. I have come up to conclusion such as that the block universe exists more to satisfy humans intuition about life other than describing reality. According to current laws, the expansion of the universe does not affect time. Regardless of how far objects in the universe move, time does not expand as well or slows down. At the same time, we already know that time is affected by mass and gravity, as the universe expands, time must go faster or is simply relative. Back to Einstein relative theory, another experiment that proves that a second on Earth is not the same as a second somewhere else in Space is the following observation made by scientists: “The idea that a second is not always a second is one of the most surprising findings of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Researchers have actually observed this effect, which is only detectable at high speeds. Scientists synchronized two highly accurate atomic clocks and then flew one around the Earth aboard an airplane. When the airborne clock returned to Earth, it was a tiny fraction of a second behind the one that remained on the ground. A thought experiment using a light clock reveals why this is so.”

Time as a metric of the movement of bodies and events comes from the Newtonian theory of physics but the current metrics of time originate from BC when the Babylonians used a sexagesimal (counting in 60s) system for mathematics and astronomy. They derived their number system from the Sumerians who were using it as early as 3500 BC.

In the cosmological sense time cannot exist without space. The simple explanation is the objects in space cannot move through space without also moving through time. And you cannot measure time without reference to objects, as planets, moving in space.

In all of the above senses, time must be relative as Einstein observed and stated. However, there are contrasts as to whether everything in the universe is known as it is not constant and this forwards to the question that as time is relatively moving through space because of mass and velocity, it is also moving infinitely for new particles and universes to be born. Follow more on this topic on ED-MINE.