What exactly is time?

From when I post this to when you read this. That is an amount of time.

Yes an amount of time but what is time?

Defining what Time Exactly Is in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars. . . . there is no one correct definition but ther are many acceptable.

You can lump this in with Love, Beautiful, Good, Happy

I think time might simply be a measure. It’s a construction: something we use to talk about our experience in the universe.

@njnyjobs Can you give us some examples of acceptable definitions?

What are the acceptable ones and I agree that it is an invented concept?

Money

Hang on these are all things that happen within “time”,

A magazine people read at the doctor’s office.

“Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.
—Attributed to John Archibald Wheeler

To me , time the duration between two events.
Its like asking why 1+1=2? No explanation. Human invented the word “time” to tell the duration between two events. Time has its own characteristics e.g. it moves forward and never backwards. You can see the effect of time e.g. humans grow old. If there is not time, everything will be stagnant. Down to micro scale, time, is defined by cecium atom, somthing like 9 billion vibration period in 1 second.

@gasman are you saying that when two things collide at a certain location is because there was a lack of time, hence two things occupied the same space.

In objective terms, time is a dimension expressing change in position relative to a frame of reference.
In subjective terms, time is an idea that gives meaning to the accumulation of experience.
I just made that up, but I think it sounds good.

Definitions of time on the Web:

an instance or single occasion for some event; “this time he succeeded”; “he called four times”; “he could do ten at a clip”

a period of time considered as a resource under your control and sufficient to accomplish something; “take time to smell the roses”; “I didn’t have time to finish”; “it took more than half my time”

an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities); “he waited a long time”; “the time of year for planting”; “he was a great actor in his time”

a suitable moment; “it is time to go”

the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past

clock: measure the time or duration of an event or action or the person who performs an action in a certain period of time; “he clocked the runners”

a person’s experience on a particular occasion; “he had a time holding back the tears”; “they had a good time together”

assign a time for an activity or event; “The candidate carefully timed his appearance at the disaster scene”

clock time: a reading of a point in time as given by a clock; “do you know what time it is?”; “the time is 10 o’clock”

set the speed, duration, or execution of; “we time the process to manufacture our cars very precisely”

fourth dimension: the fourth coordinate that is required (along with three spatial dimensions) to specify a physical event

regulate or set the time of; “time the clock”

meter: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal duration
adjust so that a force is applied and an action occurs at the desired time; “The good player times his swing so as to hit the ball squarely”

prison term: the period of time a prisoner is imprisoned; “he served a prison term of 15 months”; “his sentence was 5 to 10 years”; “he is doing time in the county jail”

I agree with @stump
it’s a dimension, it is a concept, it is a construct – whatever it is, it happens

Good point. I guess the thing is maybe we cannot define it apart from the fact that we know it seems real.

It’s a way of measuring, tracking and recording the unfolding of reality.

I’ll tell you in a second…..

time is what you make of it.

@njnyjobs Actually the full quote is, “Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once. Space is what prevents everything from happening to me.”

I doubt it makes any more sense to us than it did to Wheeler.

the fourth dimension

Time is a measure of change.It is not necessarily objective, or constant, but it is what we measure against change in our environment.

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so.
-Ford Prefect

It’s how we humans measure our linear existence. Past——Present——Future. I believe since we started to understand our place in the world it has evolved our sense about what time represents. That events before now can not be retrieved and predictions that haven’t happened yet cannot be foretold. We track distances in light years, and our planetary rotation to keep track of day/night cycles. Time is everything in our lives. It tracks our biological progression and reminds us that we have a finite existence.

Time is an artificial construct created to account for the differences between how things are and how things were.