We live in a material three-dimensional world, and this world is a singularity explosion that was born 13.8 billion years ago according to current scientific theories. That is, 13.8 billion years ago, this world and everything in this universe had not yet been born. Suddenly a big bang occurred, and our universe was born.
With the birth of the universe, the concepts of matter, time and space were also born. Matter, time and space are the three elements that make up the universe. The visible things in the universe, from celestial bodies to small particles, are all made of matter. And these matter exist in the vast space of the universe, so matter and space are things we can touch and see.
However, we can neither see nor touch time. Time seems to be an existence of nothingness. It is precisely because time cannot be studied intuitively, that many people think that time may not exist, it is just A product of people’s subjective consciousness is an illusion of ours. So does time really exist? Most people don’t think so.
Human beings have a history of tens of thousands of years of civilization. From ancient times to the present, scholars have been trying to uncover the mystery of time. Although it is invisible and intangible, we live in this world and feel the influence of time all the time. This is like the dark matter and dark energy that we are currently researching and exploring. They are also invisible and intangible things. However, scientists have proved the existence of dark matter and dark energy by observing a large number of phenomena in the universe.
The same is true of time. We can feel its existence through various phenomena in daily life. Especially when mankind enters the age of science and technology, with the aid of science and technology, mankind’s exploration of all things in the world and the rules of the universe has also taken a higher level. At this time, we can truly feel the existence of time. Since time is a real thing, what is its essence?
In fact, until now, no one has been able to completely crack the mystery of time. In fact, every great physicist is very longing for the research and exploration of time. Both Newton and Einstein have done their own research on time, and they have also put forward their own different views on time.
In Newton’s classical mechanics, time plays the role of a “gear”, which is used to measure speed and acceleration. So has classical mechanics solved the mystery of time? In fact, it is not. With the continuous advancement of human science and technology, the understanding of time proposed by Newtonian mechanics is becoming less and less recognized by people.
As for time exploration and research, Einstein’s theory of relativity should be the deeper understanding of the mystery of time. I believe that many friends know Einstein, he can be regarded as the greatest scientist since mankind entered the scientific age. His greatest achievement is to put forward the great theory of relativity. The theory of relativity has guided the direction of human scientific exploration for more than 100 years. It will continue to guide us in the future, especially on the road of exploring the mysterious universe. The theory of relativity can be said to be a mythological theory.
So what does time look like under the theory of relativity? I believe many friends know that the theory of relativity puts forward the concept of distortion of time and space, which means that both time and space can be distorted. Time is warped. Such a theory was difficult for people to accept in the past. However, scientists have proved the correctness of this theory through some experiments, and we are now applying it in practice, such as the Big Dipper navigation that we use now. The concept of time warp is used.
We have not yet applied the distortion of space in practice. Of course, the distortion of space has also been proved in the laboratory. It is precisely because space can be distorted, so scientists have proposed a way of interstellar navigation that is beyond the existing concept, that is, wormhole shuttle, which is called space jump. In some science fiction novels, the spacecraft quickly shuttles between different interstellar spaces, opening a wormhole, then jumping, and instantly reaching the distant depths of the universe.
Whether it’s wormholes, space jumps, or other curvature navigation, they actually apply the space distortion theory under the theory of relativity. That is, to achieve super-luminal flight by distorting space. In theory, such an interstellar navigation mode can exist, unless the theory of relativity is wrong. The distortion of space allows us to quickly get from one part of the universe to another part of the universe. This speed is far beyond our imagination.
Since the distortion of space can open a wormhole to realize rapid travel over long distances, can the distortion of time also open such a hole in time? So that we can travel between the past and the future? In theory, it is also possible. In Newtonian mechanics, time is irreversible and can only move forward, but in the theory of relativity, time is like a long river, which can go backwards and forwards.
Since time is invisible and intangible, how do we study its essence? At this time, a great conjecture appeared, and that was string theory. I believe that many people have also heard of string theory. It can be said to be the most discussed conjecture by scientists in the 21st century. If this conjecture becomes a reality, its greatness will surpass the theory of relativity.
Under string theory, this universe exists in a multi-dimensional form. The universe we live in is only a three-dimensional space, and there are four-dimensional, five-dimensional and other spaces on it. The three-dimensional space is composed of a three-dimensional coordinate, and its elements are length, width and height. Therefore, in three-dimensional space, length, width and height are the real things we can see.
The four-dimensional space adds an element of time to the three-dimensional basis, so the coordinate system of the four-dimensional space is composed of length, width, height and time. I believe many friends have come to understand that time is not an invisible existence in the four-dimensional universe, but a visible thing. So some people speculate that in the four-dimensional space, we can see our past, present and future events.
Of course, all of this is just speculation at present, what is the nature of time? Although Einstein’s theory of relativity puts forward the concept of time distortion, we still have very, very little knowledge of time. It is possible that what we know is only a little bit of fur, and we have not really come into contact with the true nature of time.
However, with the continuous advancement of human technology, it is believed that it will be able to be manifested in scientists’ laboratories in the future. At that time, we may be able to snoop into the mystery of some time. And time is something more mysterious and complicated than space. It may be one of the ultimate mysteries of the universe. Deciphering the mysteries of time may enable us to truly understand everything in the universe. Friends, what do you think time is?