Does time go haywire? Does it speed up at times & slow down other times?

Question

Time is something we usually can rely on. Every once in awhile, time seems to go haywire, gets fouled up in a glitch, moves impossibly fast or impossibly slow. Is it time itself that gets screwed up or is it just our prception of it? Its a fact time is not moving at a steady pace without interruptions. Could it have something to do with the expansion of the universe? I believe time is a companion that accompanies us on our journeys through life. What do you think?

Answer 1

Interesting question.  We experience time as moving quickly or not depending on our mood, level of adrenalin, etc.  But that is all pretty subjective.  If we keep time by defining a second as the number of times a certain type atom vibrates, then we find the passage of time, as measured by this atom, moves along at a constant rate.  There are theories of time passage that tie the direction of time to the increase of entropy (disorder) in the universe - the argument is that time doesn't reverse itself so it must be defined (at least the preferred direction) by the irreversible processes that go on the the universe.

If we look at objects moving near the speed of light, time measured by their "clocks" seems to move more slowly than ours.  Einstein explained this by insisting that the speed of light remain constant in every frame of reference.  But time hasn't really slowed down.

Answer 2

Its our perception of time.

The Proof.....

If it was not our perception then two people would experience the same speed ups and slow downs in time.

If I am waiting for my tea to boil and doing nothing else, time seems to be dragging for me. My wife on the otherhand is playing a game on her laptop at the same time and feels that the past 15 minutes just flew by.

This contradicts the idea that time is going haywire and seems to support the idea that its our perception of time that alters, not time itself.

Answer 3

No!

It's just your mind fracking with you mind.

Answer 4

It's just our perception. When I'm going for a jog, time can slow to a crawl. When I get a massage, it goes by in a flash. Just our perception.

Answer 5

Possiblities

1. Time is a separate dimension.

2. It doesn't exist on it's own.It needs someone to care.

3. We confuse it with aging and decaying.

Time is only a measurement we conceived  of the the earth moving around the sun broken into segments.

4.When you are speaking of how you personally perceive time, it depends on you culture, temperment, likes and dislikes. That isn't very scientific is it?

The Inuit people have no word for time it is said, but a hundred different words for kiss.

MY opinion:

I don't feel time is actually a thing, but our minds are more comfortable believing that time passes and we are not just existing now.

Something boring you perceive as time slowing and something enjoyable is perceived as time going fast. We can all name a hundred things that change the speed of time for us, but if it doesn't do it for everyone, then it is only your perception.

Answer 6

Dunno, depends on who you talk to I guess. There's some whirly-gig about how the frequency/speed of the planet has increased since like 1980 and in all actuality (per 1980's data) it only takes 16hrs to make a full rotation rather than 24hrs...but since time is relative and if the planet speeds up so does everything on it; we don't notice the change.

Answer 7

your perception of time will mostly. plus I have experienced this once the time that slows down, while waiting for a bus. serious. i was talking with someone and i had not noticed anything else, i focused on this person and the bus was ready to leave, yet i didnt feel in a hurry to get to it, I didnt even care.  i took my time with my conversation, and the bus was still there, when it should have taken off. i thought about that too after i got on the bus, like my conscience thought was telling me "lucky this bus didnt leave you". i have thought that time stood still.

Answer 8

The measurement of time,measured by the decay of cesium at the national bureau of standards ,is very consistent...your perceptions are influenced by stress,drugs ,brain chemical imbalances,anxiety...just to name a few...

Answer 9

Time only seems to speed up or slow down for a someone experiencing an event subjectively.  Videotape yourself reading something *really* boring for an hour.  Then videotape yourself playing a video game or doing something else you really enjoy for an hour.  The same amount of time will have passed, but I bet one event felt a lot longer than the other.

Answer 10

in my country, we dont believe in time.

Answer 11

yeah dood on my freakin watch it says  87:52 o clock in the afternoon

Answer 12

It's all in the perception of the observer.  The most famous analogy is based on Einsteins theory (yes, it is still theory, not law) of relativity, that as an astronaut approaches the speed of light he appears to slow down, and indeed stop, as viewed by an outside observer. However to the astronaut himself, time is a constant as measured by his ship board instruments.