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In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualizing and understanding relativistic effects, such as how different observers perceive where and when events ...
Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either because of a relative velocity between them (special relativity), or a difference in gravitational potential between their locations (general relativity). When unspecified, "time dilation" usually refers to the effect due to velocity.
Time is a scalar which is the same in all space E 3 and is denoted as t. The ordered set { t } is called a time axis. Motion (also path or trajectory ) is a function r : Δ → R 3 that maps a point in the interval Δ from the time axis to a position (radius vector) in R 3 .
In a further development in his 1908 "Space and Time" lecture, [5] Minkowski gave an alternative formulation of this idea that used a real time coordinate instead of an imaginary one, representing the four variables (x, y, z, t) of space and time in the coordinate form in a four-dimensional real vector space. Points in this space correspond to ...
A fuller explanation of the concept of coordinate time arises from its relations with proper time and with clock synchronization. Synchronization, along with the related concept of simultaneity, has to receive careful definition in the framework of general relativity theory, because many of the assumptions inherent in classical mechanics and classical accounts of space and time had to be removed.
Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology and epistemology of space and time. While such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception, the philosophy of space and time was both an inspiration for and a central aspect of early analytic philosophy. The subject focuses ...
Gravitational time dilation is a form of time dilation, an actual difference of elapsed time between two events, as measured by observers situated at varying distances from a gravitating mass. The lower the gravitational potential (the closer the clock is to the source of gravitation), the slower time passes, speeding up as the gravitational ...
For example, a glass breaking on the floor is an event; it occurs at a unique place and a unique time. [1] Strictly speaking, the notion of an event is an idealization, in the sense that it specifies a definite time and place, whereas any actual event is bound to have a finite extent, both in time and in space. [2] [3]