Random Musings...Time...
Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, nor anything of the sort, but I like to think about this kind of stuff when I would otherwise be bored.
I view "time" as system of measurement. Similar to the metric system.
According to
phys.libretexts.org
Time is change, or the interval over which change occurs.
It is impossible to know that time has passed unless something changes.
...
The most fundamental astronomical unit of time is the day, measured in terms of the rotation of Earth.
When I read their definition of time, time is duration and not "change". The key word in the definition is "or".
We know that the earth orbits around the sun in 365 1/4 days (Merriam-Webster) and 365 days is our year. But, every four years a day is added, because a calendar just can't have fractions of days. We basically "measure" the orbit of the earth around the sun using the duration of one rotation of the earth, a day, as the unit of measure.
The 365 days...one year...are divided in such ways as to create the units of “time” we know as "month" and "week".
Ideally we would have thirteen months of twenty-eight days, plus one day, which is not included in any month. But, we have what we have. A month is divided into roughly four weeks of seven days.
Year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, etc. are basic units of measure in the "Time System". I really can't find anywhere where those units of measurement are used for measuring anything other than duration. It seems that because we measure duration only with time, we use both time and duration interchangeably.
There is even an "Equation of time" (Wikipedia) where 365 is used, and it seems to be all about tracking the sun. The 365 suggests the tracking is done from earth.
It seems we confuse "time" with duration, because we use the "time" system of measurement to measure duration. Distance can be measured in meters or feet, or in any of the derived units of measure, in their respective systems. But for duration, there is only the "time" system.
In closing, I think it's not really a problem to call duration "time", but we shouldn't confuse that "time" with the "time" system of measurement.
Just random musings...
I have to think about it. A while...
It seems to me that if "time" was a thing, it would be universal and need to be measured with a system of numbers, other than itself. Duration, on the other hand, seems to be universal, because it needs to be measured using "time". Similar to how distance needs to be measured using some form of system representing distance in numbers...metric, or otherwise.
The whole point of measuring is to have a system of numbers that represents whatever it is we are observing/measuring. We need those numbers to calculate with, which give us through math the ability to understand what we are witnessing. Nothing observable has numbers that we can work with. Well, not that I know of. We need a measuring system to generate those numbers.
I just find it interesting that we use "time" to measure "time", but everything else seems to have a separate measuring system. :)
The quote below is interesting.
"Quantum Gravity" and "Imaginary Time", of that link, also have interesting takes on "time".
https://www.exactlywhatistime.com/physics-of-time/quantum-time/
Tests have been carried out using sophisticated timing equipment and pulsating laser beams to observe chemical changes taking place at very small fractions of a second (down to a femtosecond, or 10−15 seconds) and at that level time certainly appears to be smooth and continuous. However, if time actually is quantized, it is likely to be at the level of Planck time (about 10-43 seconds), the smallest possible length of time according to theoretical physics, and probably forever beyond our practical measurement abilities.
My partner is one of those people who don't necessarily see time (or the course of time) as a linear story. However, it is not possible for me to completely detach myself from this idea. However, I am prepared to understand time as a tool that people have created to name both a concrete point in time and a period of time in such a way that they can be grasped by a counterpart.
I have one question, though. Is this sort of stuff ok for the group. I plan keeping this up and don't want to spam the group. :)
It's most welcome!!
"and 356 days is our year"
And I read that more than a few times. Hmmm...
I realized that we can correct our texts, so I corrected this.