LESSER KNOWN FACT ABOUT TIME!!

Did you know that your feet are slightly younger than your head? If this thing amuses you then in the following article you are going to learn a fact about one of the most essential and fascinating fundamental quantity of the universe i.e. THE TIME. The nature of time is not like what people think it’s like, if somebody tells you to present your thoughts on the topic – is it actually possible to control the pace of time? Then its a possibility that you might think that the person is somewhat lunatic. But many physicists and scientists around the globe are actually trying to make this thought a real event. Although they have theoretically proved the phenomenon. The article below throws some light over these thought experiments of some of the most brilliant minds ever existed.

WHAT IS TIME?

Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. We all are familiar with time but actually for a layman it is generally hard to describe its nature. It is not something we can see, touch, or taste, but we can measure its passage. We all measure time keep track of it and define other physical quantities w.r.t. it but lacks actual understanding of it. Actually, around 100 years ago everyone thought time as a fixed quantity, something that is same for everyone but around 1905 something happened which changed the perception of time as a fundamental quantity forever.

THE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

One evening of 1905, a clerk in Bern named Albert Einstein was traveling his way back to his home from work. While traveling back to his home he often used to think about the fascinating mysteries of the universe. That day while traveling he noticed something that engraved Einstein’s name as an ERA DEFINING GENIUS in the world of modern physics. Einstein imagined that if the train travels with the speed of light and look at the tall tower clock at the center of the city he will notice that the hands of the clock appear static (as he is also traveling with the speed of light so the light reflected from the clock hands will never reach him ) for him while for the people in the city the hands of the clock would appear to move normally. The essence of this thought experiment was that time slowed down with respect to him. From this very moment, the idea of time being relative came into existence. He concluded that the faster you move through space the slower you move through time.

TIME DILATION THEORY

Einstein conducted another thought experiment to understand the daunting dilemma between the theories of two of his idols ISAAC NEWTON and JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. According to newton velocities are relative, but speed the of light is a universal constant irrespective of who observes it- in accordance with Maxwell. Maxwell’s theory seemed incompatible with newton’s notion of relative velocities. Why light is an exception? Einstein supposed himself on a platform being struck by lighting falling at equal distances on both sides. Now he thought what would be the observation for a man approaching the platform on a train. Logically for him, the light closer to Einstein will strike him first. But for Einstein, both will strike at the same time. This was a discrepancy that violates the fundamental laws of nature. Either Newton’s laws were incompatible or the speed of light is not a universal constant. At last, Einstein reached to the conclusion that the time for the man in the train slows down. Einstein called this observation TIME DILATION and named this theory SPECIAL RELATIVITY.

According to Newton time moves unflinchingly in a singe direction however Einstein just concluded that time stretches and contracts according to varying velocity. He concluded time and space forms a 4D continuum called spacetime upon which all the events of universe takes place. It is impossible to move in space without moving in time. The faster you move through space the slower you move through time.

TWIN PARADOX

One of the strangest consequences of time dilation is the so-called twin paradox. In this “paradox” one identical twin is sent at very high speed out into space. Because he or she is traveling at a very high speed all the clocks in the rocket, including the body clock of the twin, slow down in accordance with the principle that “moving clocks run slow”. When the twin returns he or she will have aged only a little compared to the Earth-bound twin (whose clock has been running “normally”). This is because time runs slower around the earth’s surface than above the atmosphere. This is also the reason of your feet being younger than your head. A similar theory is used in the movie Interstellar which is based on the concept of time dilation.