Topic 1-3: The intuition of time

We, human beings, posses the intuitive ability to tell whether event A has occurred before, after, or about at the same as event B. This intuitive ability is the foundation of the concept of time. Time flow is our experience of observing a time-ordered sequence of events. Again it is convenient for mutual communication to have a mutually agreed measure of time. This measure is more complicated than the measure of length, so we will not go into details about how it is set. The result is the familiar time-measurements of the second-minute-hour-day-week-month-year system. It should be emphasized that physics cannot and does not explain what time is. It is perfectly natural that you can understand intuitively what time is but cannot explain it. If anyone, including any physicist, tells you that he can define time, then he is either lying or does not know what physics is! Even though we can not explain what time is, this intuition of time is another fundamental element of physics; without adopting time as a nonexplainable but intuitive entity, no physics can be developed.

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