Time

[Myomoto-08]

Random thought, but isn't time a weird process to think about? I mean who even decided a minute lasts the time of a minute? :P

[Derrener]

I always wonder who invented little things like that

[Jordan]

Just something that was made up aggggggggggggggges ago I guess. I don't think there was a reason why 60 was chosen it was just chosen.

I googled and had a look but got bored because it just went on and on

[Lewis]

365 days was chosen because thats how long it takes to circle the sun.
24 hours was chosen as thats how long it takes for the moon to circle the earth.
1 hour / 60 minutes minutes was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 minute was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 second was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^


This is my opinion why it'd be that.

[Myomoto-08]

I get that it's just something someone had decided, but it is just bizarre to think about things like this, because time is part of everybodies life but nobody wants to know who's idea it was to create time. Where as all other inventers are at least recognised :P

[MKR&*42]

I get that it's just something someone had decided, but it is just bizarre to think about things like this, because time is part of everybodies life but nobody wants to know who's idea it was to create time. Where as all other inventers are at least recognised :P

You can't "create" time, it just 'is there'. You can label it but you cannot create/invent it. It's very mind bending if you start thinking about the entire concept of time really (not just its labelling) :P

[Jordan]

365 days was chosen because thats how long it takes to circle the sun.
24 hours was chosen as thats how long it takes for the moon to circle the earth.
1 hour / 60 minutes minutes was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 minute was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 second was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^


This is my opinion why it'd be that.

How can you know that the sun took 365 days to circle the sun when you don't know how long a day lasted.

I don't think I can get very much into this discussion as I'm losing myself already.

Oh and btw the 24 hours would of been picked because of how long it took for the earth to spin on its axis, not the moon orbiting the earth because that takes 28 days :P

I think a time scale for a day would of been picked first then coming up hours, minutes and seconds then with weeks and a year

[Lewis]

How can you know that the sun took 365 days to circle the sun when you don't know how long a day lasted.

I don't think I can get very much into this discussion as I'm losing myself already.

Oh and btw the 24 hours would of been picked because of how long it took for the earth to spin on its axis, not the moon orbiting the earth because that takes 28 days :P

I think a time scale for a day would of been picked first then coming up hours, minutes and seconds then with weeks and a year

i said it was my opinion from my current knowledge!

(I KNEW SOMETHING WAS MISSING - MONTHS) Im such a fool!

[Myomoto-08]

You can't "create" time, it just 'is there'. You can label it but you cannot create/invent it. It's very mind bending if you start thinking about the entire concept of time really (not just its labelling) :P
Exactly! Haha I don't mean just the label but exactly what you've said the concept of time :P it's such a mind ****

---------- Post added 05-08-2012 at 11:30 PM ----------

This has turned into such an I depth conversation about time :P

[MKR&*42]

Ooer, this is intriguing;


If all the movement and radioactive decay in the universe were to suddenly stop, including the rotation of electrons, the atomic activity of stars, the revolution of moons and planets, the beating of hearts, and the breathing of breaths.... If all this movement were to suddenly stop, where would time be? In a motionless universe, would there be such a thing as time? And how do we know for certain that the entire universe didn't instantly freeze two moments ago, then sleep motionlessly for an eternity, and then instantly thaw to find us exactly here, thinking that only a second has passed?

Too urgh omg.

[Myomoto-08]

Ooer, this is intriguing;



Too urgh omg.
Wow that is just confusing I don't think my brain can handle all this haha

[Inseriousity.]

Lol I asked my RE teacher at college once the same thing. They got very confused with me. It's not just you, I think of things like this all the time. Time, dates, what did they use before christianity (we use BC/AD) and things like that. :)

[Myomoto-08]

Lol I asked my RE teacher at college once the same thing. They got very confused with me. It's not just you, I think of things like this all the time. Time, dates, what did they use before christianity (we use BC/AD) and things like that. :)
lol that makes me feel better knowing I am not the only one baffled by this :P

[iBlueBox]

People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.

[FlyingJesus]

How can you know that the sun took 365 days to circle the sun when you don't know how long a day lasted.

Well a day is the one that's the easiest, as that's the rotation of the planet on its axis, and the passing of a day is something that you can actually see happening. Of all the timeframes in question, that one's the most simple to comprehend even without any mathematical or scientific knowledge :P

As for how we split a day, 24 hours is down to the ancient Egyptians and Indians who measured most units in terms of relativity to the number 12 (rather than multiples and derivatives of 10 as modern metric units tend to use), so each day and night was split into 12 parts apiece and followed patterns in certain stars, which actually meant that originally hours would have a different length according to the season, which was fine for an agricultural lifestyle but then the Greeks decided that fixed hours would be better so that they could use them mathematically to display various theories - but this was only used for the philosopher classes, and labourers would still use the old seasonal methods. The idea of fixed hours for the masses regardless of season only actually came about when mechanical clocks began being manufactured in the 14th century, but the concept has been there for millennia.

Not entirely sure about 60 minutes/seconds but I think that's also got an astronomical background, I'll have a look in a sec to see what I can find on it

[GommeInc]

Not entirely sure about 60 minutes/seconds but I think that's also got an astronomical background, I'll have a look in a sec to see what I can find on it
The Babylonians used a sexitecimal system rather than a decimal system. I can't find how they got to 60 though.

http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/topics/num-sys.html#babylonian

As per usual, a good post :) Nicely simplified.

EDIT: They measured time with a sun/water clock. So I hazard a guess as to say that they may of made a sundial and measured the distance the sun had travelled in a day and put it alongside numbers of 6, and calculated the distance the sun would of travelled at night and got a near-accurate reading.

[Kardan]

365 days was chosen because thats how long it takes to circle the sun.
24 hours was chosen as thats how long it takes for the moon to circle the earth.
1 hour / 60 minutes minutes was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 minute was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^
1 second was chosen because it was a simple way to calculate up to the very top. ^


This is my opinion why it'd be that.

24 hours is how long for the moon to go around the Earth?

Are you being serious? That's so wrong...

A year was created to mark a full rotation around the sun, and days were created to mark a full rotation of the Earth's axis, I'm assuming that hours and minutes were just random sub divisions of a day that someone created down the line, simple really :)

And to the earlier question of what would time be if everything stopped, then it would be nothing. Time is just a relative measurement, so for the relativeness to become nothing, then time wouldn't exist.

[FlyingJesus]

The Babylonians used a sexitecimal system rather than a decimal system. I can't find how they got to 60 though.

http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/topics/num-sys.html#babylonian

As per usual, a good post :) Nicely simplified.

EDIT: They measured time with a sun/water clock. So I hazard a guess as to say that they may of made a sundial and measured the distance the sun had travelled in a day and put it alongside numbers of 6, and calculated the distance the sun would of travelled at night and got a near-accurate reading.

Christ that numerical system seems ridiculously complicated even for scholars, the same symbol can mean either 60 or 1 :P glad we use the Arabic system, and thank all the gods in history that the Indians thought to invent zero after a while haha

And no matter where I look I can't find an actual reason for the Babylonians using 60 as a base, trust them to be bloody mysterious about everything

[Kardan]

Christ that numerical system seems ridiculously complicated even for scholars, the same symbol can mean either 60 or 1 :P glad we use the Arabic system, and thank all the gods in history that the Indians thought to invent zero after a while haha

And no matter where I look I can't find an actual reason for the Babylonians using 60 as a base, trust them to be bloody mysterious about everything

I read somewhere that it was the mesopotamians that created the minute and the second interval as they had an obsession with the number 60, you can probably find out if that's true or not with a google search :)

[FlyingJesus]

Babylon was the capital of Mesopotamia *+*strutz thru ancient iraq*+* and yeah there's all sorts of pages saying that it's because they used 60 as a base, but no-one with a real idea of why other than because they felt like it lol

[Kardan]

Babylon was the capital of Mesopotamia *+*strutz thru ancient iraq*+* and yeah there's all sorts of pages saying that it's because they used 60 as a base, but no-one with a real idea of why other than because they felt like it lol

Derp on my behalf for not knowing babylon = mesopotamia. Although I did know that Babylon was in what is now Iraq and that Mesopotamia was the old name for Iraq. Bed time.

[Amberr]

I always wonder about things like this, it is strange how to the majority of people it doesn't even occur to them but yet its part of there every day life.

[Lewis]

24 hours is how long for the moon to go around the Earth?

Are you being serious? That's so wrong...

A year was created to mark a full rotation around the sun, and days were created to mark a full rotation of the Earth's axis, I'm assuming that hours and minutes were just random sub divisions of a day that someone created down the line, simple really :)

And to the earlier question of what would time be if everything stopped, then it would be nothing. Time is just a relative measurement, so for the relativeness to become nothing, then time wouldn't exist.

If you read my other post, I corrected myself with the 24 hour thing :P.

Yes, what you say is correct - and thats basically what I was trying to say (simpler and failed) :). Time does exist, but how we measure it is purely man made.

[GoldenMerc]

I've always thought this too, plus how did they decide swear words :P

[Myomoto-08]

I've always thought this too, plus how did they decide swear words :P
That's a better point actually! Never mind time who decided on swear words ? :P

[e5]

Time is time. It doesn't matter to me weather a minute is 60 seconds or a 100 seconds, time still moves at the same pace!

[Myomoto-08]

Time is time. It doesn't matter to me weather a minute is 60 seconds or a 100 seconds, time still moves at the same pace!
That's not entirely true because time does matter to you it matters to everyone it's just something that's apart of everyone's life.
Also, you live off the man made time scale, for example be at school for 9am or you're late, so you would be there because it matters to be on time

[FlyingJesus]

I've always thought this too, plus how did they decide swear words :P

The widescale societal bastardisation of various nouns and adjectives with malicious intent

[Empired]

365 days was chosen because thats how long it takes to circle the sun.
Not sure if this has already been said 'cause I don't want to read through the entire thread but actually it takes a few hours over 365 days, that's why we have the leap year isn't it?? Sorry if I just made that up on the spot by accident :rolleyes:

[Matthew]

Its a really weird thing to think about, time, but IMO it just shows how amazing the human brain is that we can comprehend something as obscure and complex (although simple) as time, and also can think about our brains thinking about time :P

Slightly off topic with the brain stuff but yeah, time is weird ;)


@BamitsElfie! (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=80588); yes its 365 and a quarter isn't it, thus a leap year every 4 years.

[Myomoto-08]

Its a really weird thing to think about, time, but IMO it just shows how amazing the human brain is that we can comprehend something as obscure and complex (although simple) as time, and also can think about our brains thinking about time :P

Slightly off topic with the brain stuff but yeah, time is weird ;)


@BamitsElfie! (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=80588); yes its 365 and a quarter isn't it, thus a leap year every 4 years. I totally agree the human brain is an extremely complex organ and even though this is off topic I also agree that it is just amazing how the brain can comprehend such an obscure mechanism, time. :)

[LiquidLuck.]

So much philosophy.. xD

[Myomoto-08]

So much philosophy.. xD
Tell me about it :P haha

[Munex]

And time isn't as straight forward as you imagine; time isn't constant, travelling at the same pace all over the universe. Einstein's theory of relativity (E=MC2) proves that time travel into the future is possible and that time and space are connected (space-time). Clocks on earth move at a different speed to clocks in space (on satellites) - this is not just a theory, it's a proven fact. Cool huh.

[LiquidLuck.]

Not sure if ''cool'' or ''boring''..

[Jurv]

most of the posts in this thread confuse me but yeah, time is a very weird process when you start to think about it. whoever created it, or came up with the whole idea of using seconds, minutes, hours, etc are brilliant. i would be so lost without time, haha

[Myomoto-08]

most of the posts in this thread confuse me but yeah, time is a very weird process when you start to think about it. whoever created it, or came up with the whole idea of using seconds, minutes, hours, etc are brilliant. i would be so lost without time, haha
Haha yeah we all would be lost without it, life would be much more confusing :P