by Ravi Ghimire
What is time?
It is a simple question with vastly different answers. We were born and are living in an unending cycle of change. Time itself is a mystery of human life.
Moving from one place to another, we have clear parameters and distance, but moving from one time to another is yet a fantasy. Albeit the advancement of technology, we are unable to comprehend time. Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity proposes that time is an illusion which moves relative to an observer. In other words, time differs and can be altered; it is only in our brain that plays tricks on us. If we watch a clock to pass a minute, it will be eternal but passing the whole three hours in an exam hall will be swift. However, we experience aging, and it is a fact. Hence, that concludes time is arcane.
Professor Ronald L. Mallett, a theoretical physicist, has given us a vision of the fourth dimension and analogy of time as an invisible spatial element that can be penetrated only exceeding the speed of light. His theory perpetuates the general theory of relativity, where time is affected by gravity and considerably diverges from epicenter to periphery. The Hafele–Keating experiment conducted in October 1971 is proof of time as the fourth element, which can be modified by speed.
Notwithstanding the evidence, the question is still unanswered: what is time?