If I drive my car through a corner slowly I’ll be fine. If I go fast, the car will skid off the road. All the materials are the same, the execution is the same. The only difference is over what amount of time this happens? The example is not important, the same goes for pretty much anything. Filling a bottle, ripping a sheet of paper..
I understand this from a intuitive perspective, but I wonder if someone can explain why time matters in physics in a simple way. What is the fundamental difference between doing something fast vs. slow.
I’m sure this is a silly question if you know some thermal dynamics or special relativity, but remember, I’m only 5!
In: Physics
Summary:
Thank you all for all your comments and in depth explanations.
Since there are a lot of comments, I figured I’d try to summarize my impression after reading.
Now, bare in mind, this is just my “uneducated” impression, so I might have gotten some things wrong.
1. Some comments explain why a car going fast skids off the road. These are good explanations, but not really what I was seeking. This is my fault for not framing the question precisely enough, and I actually still don’t think I have the question fully formed for myself.
2. Many of the comments use explanations through inertia/speed/acceleration/force. These are also good explanations, but feel a bit circular to me as time is like such a basic ingredient in all of those.
3. The third category that makes the most sense to me is not an explanation, but a reference point that help me come to terms with the concept. ->Looking at time as a dimension rather than flow.. It is just another dimension to determine our “location” in 4D. The same as up/down/forwards/backwards. Several people introduced this, but I found rangeDSPs comment made it click for me, so go check that one out.
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