Time, Hyperspace and the speed of light? Please help!

Question

Ok, I'm taking a risk. I have thought this through very generally so now I need a little more insight, hence my asking you...

I was reading about parallel universes and the subject of hyperspace came up. Wikipedia said, " the travel time between two points in the hyperspace universe is much shorter than the time to travel to the analogous points in our universe. This can be because of a different speed of light, different speed at which time passes, or the analogous points in the hyperspace universe are just much closer to each other."

My question is, does, in anyway, the speed of light effect the way we tell time? If the speed of light changed, would that affect the way we see the sun, thus altering the way we see day and night (which we ultimately use to tell time)?

Answer 1

The speed of light can effect time if your traveling at that speed. As you approach light speed time slows down for you but keeps going outside of your vehicle. This effectively leaves you lost in space sometime in the future.

But if light speed were slower it wouldnt effect us. Everything will just appear to occur a little earlier or a little later  

Answer 2

The answer is no.  The speed of light (like any dimensionful physical constant) is just a relic of the units we use to measure.

If the speed of light changed and all the dimensionless physical constants stayed the same.  I could just redefine the meter or the second and noone would be any the wiser.  Now if the speed of light changed and you allowed the effect to ripple through and change things like the number of planck masses in a proton or the fine structure constant, then that could turn physics completely on its head and make this a completely different universe.

Answer 3

<<My question is, does, in anyway, the speed of light effect the way we tell time?>>

not really.

however, it appears that the speed of light is more basic than the matter you're made of.

<< If the speed of light changed, would that affect the way we see the sun,>>

if we made that assumption, probably not.  we don't notice that the light we see left the sun 8 minutes ago.  it would be unlikely to make any difference if it left the sun 4 minutes ago.

<< thus altering the way we see day and night>>

well, relative to the sun, i guess night would be 4 minutes earlier.

but we'd not be able to sense that.

<< (which we ultimately use to tell time)?>>

ummmm, if you want to keep your job, i think you'd better be more punctual than just telling the boss,  "I'm here. the sun just came up."

as to parallel universes, where's the link?

one would hope they're posting it as an idea / theory, rather than as factual.

Answer 4

Within Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, time is the fourth dimension - so that space and time become space-time. This fourth dimension is then incorporated into calculations of the 'metric' or measure of a small element 'ds' of (here flat or Minkowski) space, in an equation of the type: -

ds² = dx² + dy² + dz² - c²dt²

Thus, in relativistic calculations time becomes a fourth dimension. However, a more general consideration of time might proceed as follows. Hence, in another universe where the speed of light was different then perhaps the measurement of space-time would be different.  But in our universe, although we use atomic clocks,  we do not measure the progress of time specifically in terms of the speed of light. I'll try to expand upon this a little!

As humans, we perceive time as a steady progression of a sequence of events whose progress we measure with artificial units. These artificial units are centuries, years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Although physics allows a symmetric nature to the progression or regression of time; we only observe time as progressing inexorably forward. For human perception, the progress of time may seem fast or slow depending upon what we are doing - despite the imposed units of time progress. Artificial units for time are awkward and so some writers and theorists discuss the march of time in terms of the thermodynamics quantity known as entropy. The entropy of an object is its energy content divided by its temperature: -

S= ∆Q

......__

.......T

Where 'S' is the entropy and '∆Q' the energy content and 'T' is the absolute temperature. The concept of entropy is a measure of order. The more ordered a system is then the lower its entropy. It is a rule of nature that systems such as the universe drift towards greater and greater disorder as 'time' progresses. Thus, the universe started out with a low entropy but its entropy has increased continually since the Big Bang. Although it is possible to reduce the entropy of a closed system, for example by cooling, it is only possible for the entropy of the overall universe to increase. Thus, time may be linked to the entropy of the universe - it must forever go forwards and increase.

Answer 5

Yes it would, if light were faster/slower, it would take more/less time to reach earth from the sun so yeah it would effect it, days would be shorter/longer, etc.

Answer 6

To understand how the speed of light affects time you're going to have to grasp the concepts of Einsteins theory of special relativity.....First and foremost you have to understand that the speed of light (c) is the same in all refrence frames.

Q. My question is, does, in anyway, the speed of light effect the way we tell time?

A. Yes, because the speed of light is the SAME in ALL refrence frames.

Without getting too technical I'm going to try to walk you through this. A refrence frame is a point of refrence-If I'm driving in a car at 20mph towards a person standing still and I throw a tennis ball out my window at the person...then....In his refrence frame the ball is traveling towards him at 25mph

(Cars speed of 20 mph+5mph tennis ball). From my refrence frame the ball is traveling away from me at 5mph.

This is the part were many people get lost. In my refrence frame the tennis ball is NOT traveling 25mph. The tennis ball is only traveling 5mph. But how, when the car is traveling at 20mph? Shouldn't the tennis ball and cars speed be combined as it is in the refrence frame of the person standing still?

NOOO!!!!! Think about it. If your driving a car at a constant speed and you throw a ball up in the air, will the ball fly to the back windshield because of the cars speed? Or will it fall right back down in your hand? Obviously the ball will fall right back in your hand. Because its traveling with you. However, if you throw the ball up while accelerating (0mph to 60mph in 5 seconds) the Yes then ball will fly to the back windshield. The ball doesn't fly to the back windshield because the car move, the car flew to the back windshiled because the car accerlated. "Newtons first law of motion-An object that is moving at a constant speed is in a state of rest (uniform motion) unless acted upon by an outside force.

The point of all this is to understand that if someone or something is traveling at a constant speed "uniform motion"...then in that persons refrence frame they are at rest!

i.e Look at a tree outside. Is it moving? Most people would say no of course not. But the earth is rotating on its axis is it not? And the tree is apart of the earth.

Q. Is the tree moving?

A. Yes and no. It all depends on which refrence frame you are in. From the refrence frame of somone on the moon the is moving with the rotation of the earth. From the refrence frame of someone on earth the tree is still.

(There is no such thing as absolute stillness or motion. Everthing is in "relative" motion to something else. It all depends on WHICH refrence frame your looking at it from)

What in the h**l does all this have to do with the speed of light? Well sistah if you dont understand uniform motion, acceration, and most important refrence frames...your not going to understand how and why light affects time. Lets return to our previous example.

Q. One person is driving a car at 20mph towards a person whom is on a road standing still, and he flashes his headlights. How fast does light travel toward the person whom is standing still? How fast does light travel away from the guy who is driving the car.

A. The same speed (c) roughly 186,000 miles per second. But how? Shouldn't the speed of light travel towards the person at 186,020 mph (speed of light + speed of car). No the speed of the light is the SAME in all refrence frames.

Whats changed? TIME.

From the refence frame of the person standing still-time in the guys car has slowed down. Sometimes you'll hear the pharse "moving clocks tick slow." But, time is the same in the guys refrence frame because his clock, brain, body has slowed down too.

Since the speed of light is the same in all refrence frames Einstein proved that time and space is relative. Its not absolute.

Twin paradox - If a twin travels in a futuristic rocketship at 80 percent the speed of light to a nearby star and returns in a couple days-his brother "the twin on earth would have aged 20 years." One twin would have aged a few days the other two decades.

Why? Because the speed of light is the same in ALL refrence frames thus proving that time and space is not absolute its relative to motion.