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Question
does time move relative to space?
Hi,
this is a natural question and has a simple answer. But we should clarify our terminology before giving the answer.
Space and time are only parts of a more general, 4-dimensional space-time. The phenomenon of "moving" is defined only for *objects* that exist *in* space and time, and the definition is "change of coordinates in space and time, with respect to some inertial system of coordinates".
The "time" is not an object, it is the thing, with respect to which we define "motion". As such, time does *not* move relative to space, because we cannot truly assign it spatial coordinates, and subsequently cannot judge the "change of coordinates".
In a dispute, mind you, one needs to be very careful to distinguish between *time* as the particular 1-dimensional projection of space-time, and the *proper time*, which is the *time scale* associated with *objects* existing in space-time. If one mistakes "proper time" for "time", one may be misled to thinking that <Because an object can move in space, and the object carries its "time" with it, then the "time" moves in space as well>. Such sentence is wrong, because of the improper use of the term "time".
I hope this answered your question.
Good day!
Daniel
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Daniel Mazur
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Questions anyone (teenager, undergrad, graduate, professional) may ask on physics, mathematics or inorganic chemistry. Questions may concern subjects themselves or a possible future career in them, if you need advice on a school or hobby project, or you just came across a question that is beyond your current curriculum. I answer bare textbook problems sometimes, but I reserve the the right to redirect you to Physics-Physics section. The kind of questions I like to answer: I just started having science classes at school and they seem difficult, but I enjoy them. Where do I find more information on this, which is not in textbooks but still comprehensible to me? Just leaving high school, and I feel science is really the thing for me. Can you recommend a school and an undergrad program suitable to my inclinations? I am in my second undergraduate year in Physics. We learned the basics of universe expanding this year, the Hubble constant and all that, but invited speakers that gave talks on astrophysics in our department seemed not to agree with this model at all. Is it of any use at all? I am building a [materials research] experimental device for my masters/doctorate thesis and I have the following problem:... I have tried ..., but it still doesn't work. Where might the problem be?
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