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55-614: The past denotes period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future . The Past may also refer to: Past In English grammar , actions are classified according to one of the following twelve verb tenses: past (past, uses of English verb forms , past perfect , or past perfect continuous ), present ( present , present continuous , present perfect , or present perfect continuous ), or future ( future , future continuous , future perfect , or future perfect continuous ). The past tense refers to actions that have already happened. For example, "she

110-529: A causal relation . General relativity does not address the nature of time for extremely small intervals where quantum mechanics holds. In quantum mechanics, time is treated as a universal and absolute parameter, differing from general relativity's notion of independent clocks. The problem of time consists of reconciling these two theories. As of 2024, there is no generally accepted theory of quantum general relativity. Generally speaking, methods of temporal measurement, or chronometry , take two distinct forms:

165-611: A calendar based solely on twelve lunar months. Lunisolar calendars have a thirteenth month added to some years to make up for the difference between a full year (now known to be about 365.24 days) and a year of just twelve lunar months. The numbers twelve and thirteen came to feature prominently in many cultures, at least partly due to this relationship of months to years. Other early forms of calendars originated in Mesoamerica, particularly in ancient Mayan civilization. These calendars were religiously and astronomically based, with 18 months in

220-421: A certain point (the train station). Alternatively, the sentence, "He ran past us at full speed," utilizes the concept of the past to describe the position of someone ("He") that is further than the speaker. The "past" is also used to define a time that is a certain number of minute before or after a particular hour , as in "We left the party at half-past twelve." People also use "past" to refer to being beyond

275-620: A dimension. Isaac Newton said that we are merely occupying time, he also says that humans can only understand relative time . Relative time is a measurement of objects in motion. The anti-realists believed that time is merely a convenient intellectual concept for humans to understand events. This means that time was useless unless there were objects that it could interact with, this was called relational time . René Descartes , John Locke , and David Hume said that one's mind needs to acknowledge time, in order to understand what time is. Immanuel Kant believed that we can not know what something

330-403: A head in the famous Leibniz–Clarke correspondence . Philosophers in the 17th and 18th century questioned if time was real and absolute, or if it was an intellectual concept that humans use to understand and sequence events. These questions lead to realism vs anti-realism; the realists believed that time is a fundamental part of the universe, and be perceived by events happening in a sequence, in

385-407: A hundred minutes of a hundred seconds, which marked a deviation from the base 12 ( duodecimal ) system used in many other devices by many cultures. The system was abolished in 1806. A large variety of devices have been invented to measure time. The study of these devices is called horology . An Egyptian device that dates to c.  1500 BC , similar in shape to a bent T-square , measured

440-577: A number or calendar date to an instant (point in time), quantifying the duration of a time interval, and establishing a chronology (ordering of events). In modern times, several time specifications have been officially recognized as standards, where formerly they were matters of custom and practice. The invention in 1955 of the caesium atomic clock has led to the replacement of older and purely astronomical time standards such as sidereal time and ephemeris time , for most practical purposes, by newer time standards based wholly or partly on atomic time using

495-457: A particular biological age or phase of being, as in, "The boy was past the age of needing a babysitter," or, "I'm past caring about that problem." The "past" is commonly used to refer to history, either generally or with regards to specific time periods or events, as in, "Past monarchs had absolute power to determine the law in contrast to many European Kings and Queens of today." Nineteenth-century British author Charles Dickens created one of

550-488: A prime motivation in navigation and astronomy . Time is also of significant social importance, having economic value (" time is money ") as well as personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in human life spans . The concept of time can be complex. Multiple notions exist and defining time in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has consistently eluded scholars. Nevertheless, diverse fields such as business, industry, sports,

605-482: A recurring pattern of ages or cycles, where events and phenomena repeated themselves in a predictable manner. One of the most famous examples of this concept is found in Hindu philosophy , where time is depicted as a wheel called the " Kalachakra " or "Wheel of Time." According to this belief, the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation, and destruction. Similarly, in other ancient cultures such as those of

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660-516: A year and 20 days in a month, plus five epagomenal days at the end of the year. The reforms of Julius Caesar in 45 BC put the Roman world on a solar calendar . This Julian calendar was faulty in that its intercalation still allowed the astronomical solstices and equinoxes to advance against it by about 11 minutes per year. Pope Gregory XIII introduced a correction in 1582; the Gregorian calendar

715-765: Is a fundamental concept to define other quantities, such as velocity . To avoid a circular definition, time in physics is operationally defined as "what a clock reads", specifically a count of repeating events such as the SI second . Although this aids in practical measurements, it does not address the essence of time. Physicists developed the concept of the spacetime continuum, where events are assigned four coordinates: three for space and one for time. Events like particle collisions , supernovas , or rocket launches have coordinates that may vary for different observers, making concepts like "now" and "here" relative. In general relativity , these coordinates do not directly correspond to

770-454: Is a theoretical ideal scale realized by TAI. Geocentric Coordinate Time and Barycentric Coordinate Time are scales defined as coordinate times in the context of the general theory of relativity. Barycentric Dynamical Time is an older relativistic scale that is still in use. Many ancient cultures, particularly in the East, had a cyclical view of time. In these traditions, time was often seen as

825-430: Is credited to Egyptians because of their sundials, which operated on a duodecimal system. The importance of the number 12 is due to the number of lunar cycles in a year and the number of stars used to count the passage of night. The most precise timekeeping device of the ancient world was the water clock , or clepsydra , one of which was found in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I . They could be used to measure

880-500: Is dominated by temporality ( kala ), everything within time is subject to change and decay. Overcoming pain and death requires knowledge that transcends temporal existence and reveals its eternal foundation. Two contrasting viewpoints on time divide prominent philosophers. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe  – a dimension independent of events, in which events occur in sequence . Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it

935-498: Is in Byrhtferth 's Enchiridion (a science text) of 1010–1012, where it was defined as 1/564 of a momentum (1 1 ⁄ 2 minutes), and thus equal to 15/94 of a second. It was used in the computus , the process of calculating the date of Easter. As of May 2010 , the smallest time interval uncertainty in direct measurements is on the order of 12 attoseconds (1.2 × 10 seconds), about 3.7 × 10 Planck times . The second (s)

990-812: Is kept within 0.9 second of UT1 by the introduction of one-second steps to UTC, the leap second . The Global Positioning System broadcasts a very precise time signal based on UTC time. The surface of the Earth is split into a number of time zones . Standard time or civil time in a time zone deviates a fixed, round amount, usually a whole number of hours, from some form of Universal Time, usually UTC. Most time zones are exactly one hour apart, and by convention compute their local time as an offset from UTC. For example, time zones at sea are based on UTC. In many locations (but not at sea) these offsets vary twice yearly due to daylight saving time transitions. Some other time standards are used mainly for scientific work. Terrestrial Time

1045-411: Is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled. Furthermore, it may be that there is a subjective component to time, but whether or not time itself is "felt", as a sensation, or is a judgment, is a matter of debate. In Philosophy, time was questioned throughout the centuries; what time is and if it is real or not. Ancient Greek philosophers asked if time

1100-407: Is not on the action having been completed by the present moment, but rather on its having taken place actively over a time period before another moment in the past. The verb tense used in the sentence "She had been walking in the park regularly before I met her" is past perfect continuous because it describes an action ("walking") that was actively happening before a time when something else in the past

1155-483: Is not rather than what it is, an approach similar to that taken in other negative definitions . However, Augustine ends up calling time a "distention" of the mind (Confessions 11.26) by which we simultaneously grasp the past in memory, the present by attention, and the future by expectation. Isaac Newton believed in absolute space and absolute time; Leibniz believed that time and space are relational. The differences between Leibniz's and Newton's interpretations came to

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1210-655: Is qualitative, as opposed to quantitative. In Greek mythology, Chronos (ancient Greek: Χρόνος) is identified as the Personification of Time. His name in Greek means "time" and is alternatively spelled Chronus (Latin spelling) or Khronos. Chronos is usually portrayed as an old, wise man with a long, gray beard, such as "Father Time". Some English words whose etymological root is khronos/chronos include chronology , chronometer , chronic , anachronism , synchronise , and chronicle . Rabbis sometimes saw time like "an accordion that

1265-588: Is seen as progressing in a straight line from past to future without repetition. In general, the Islamic and Judeo-Christian world-view regards time as linear and directional , beginning with the act of creation by God. The traditional Christian view sees time ending, teleologically, with the eschatological end of the present order of things, the " end time ". In the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes , traditionally ascribed to Solomon (970–928 BC), time (as

1320-447: Is sometimes referred to as Newtonian time . The opposing view is that time does not refer to any kind of "container" that events and objects "move through", nor to any entity that "flows", but that it is instead part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which humans sequence and compare events. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant , holds that time

1375-402: Is the SI base unit. A minute (min) is 60 seconds in length (or, rarely, 59 or 61 seconds when leap seconds are employed), and an hour is 60 minutes or 3600 seconds in length. A day is usually 24 hours or 86,400 seconds in length; however, the duration of a calendar day can vary due to Daylight saving time and Leap seconds . A time standard is a specification for measuring time: assigning

1430-401: Is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past , through the present , and into the future . It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in

1485-433: Is the primary framework for understanding how spacetime works. Through advances in both theoretical and experimental investigations of spacetime, it has been shown that time can be distorted and dilated , particularly at the edges of black holes . Throughout history, time has been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science. Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists and has been

1540-436: Is used to describe actions that were already completed by a specific point in the past. For example, "she had walked" describes an action that took place in the past and was also completed in the past. The past perfects continuous tense refers to an action that was happening up until a particular point in the past but was completed. It is different from the past perfect tense because the emphasis of past perfect continuous verbs

1595-411: Is walking" refers to a girl who is currently walking (present tense), while "she walked" refers to a girl who was walking before now (past tense). The past continuous tense refers to actions that continued for a period of time, as in the sentence "she was walking," which describes an action that was still happening in a prior window of time to which a speaker is presently referring. The past perfect tense

1650-569: The Clock of the Long Now . They can be driven by a variety of means, including gravity, springs, and various forms of electrical power, and regulated by a variety of means such as a pendulum . Alarm clocks first appeared in ancient Greece around 250 BC with a water clock that would set off a whistle. This idea was later mechanized by Levi Hutchins and Seth E. Thomas . A chronometer is a portable timekeeper that meets certain precision standards. Initially,

1705-425: The calendar , a mathematical tool for organising intervals of time, and the clock , a physical mechanism that counts the passage of time. In day-to-day life, the clock is consulted for periods less than a day, whereas the calendar is consulted for periods longer than a day. Increasingly, personal electronic devices display both calendars and clocks simultaneously. The number (as on a clock dial or calendar) that marks

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1760-493: The conscious experience . Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension , along with three spatial dimensions . Time is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities in both the International System of Units (SI) and International System of Quantities . The SI base unit of time is the second , which is defined by measuring the electronic transition frequency of caesium atoms. General relativity

1815-668: The Hebrew word עידן, זמן iddan (age, as in "Ice age") zĕman(time) is often translated) is a medium for the passage of predestined events. (Another word, زمان" זמן" zamān , meant time fit for an event , and is used as the modern Arabic , Persian , and Hebrew equivalent to the English word "time".) The Greek language denotes two distinct principles, Chronos and Kairos . The former refers to numeric, or chronological, time. The latter, literally "the right or opportune moment", relates specifically to metaphysical or Divine time. In theology, Kairos

1870-520: The Mayans, Aztecs, and Chinese, there were also beliefs in cyclical time, often associated with astronomical observations and calendars. These cultures developed complex systems to track time, seasons, and celestial movements, reflecting their understanding of cyclical patterns in nature and the universe. The cyclical view of time contrasts with the linear concept of time more common in Western thought, where time

1925-474: The Middle Dutch word klocke which, in turn, derives from the medieval Latin word clocca , which ultimately derives from Celtic and is cognate with French, Latin, and German words that mean bell . The passage of the hours at sea was marked by bells and denoted the time (see ship's bell ). The hours were marked by bells in abbeys as well as at sea. Clocks can range from watches to more exotic varieties such as

1980-514: The SI second. International Atomic Time (TAI) is the primary international time standard from which other time standards are calculated. Universal Time (UT1) is mean solar time at 0° longitude, computed from astronomical observations. It varies from TAI because of the irregularities in Earth's rotation. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is an atomic time scale designed to approximate Universal Time. UTC differs from TAI by an integral number of seconds. UTC

2035-781: The best-known fictional personifications of the "past" in his short book, " A Christmas Carol ." In the story, the Ghost of Christmas Past is an apparition that shows the main character, a cold-hearted and tight-fisted man named Ebenezer Scrooge , vignettes from his childhood and early adult life to teach him that joy does not necessarily come from wealth. The past is the object of study within such fields as time , life , history , nostalgia , archaeology , archaeoastronomy , chronology , geology , historical geology , historical linguistics , ontology , paleontology , paleobotany , paleoethnobotany , palaeogeography , paleoclimatology , etymology and physical cosmology . Time Time

2090-523: The causal structure of events. Instead, the spacetime interval is calculated and classified as either space-like or time-like, depending on whether an observer exists that would say the events are separated by space or by time. Since the time required for light to travel a specific distance is the same for all observers—a fact first publicly demonstrated by the Michelson–Morley experiment —all observers will consistently agree on this definition of time as

2145-517: The events of the abbeys and monasteries of the Middle Ages. Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336), abbot of St. Alban's abbey, famously built a mechanical clock as an astronomical orrery about 1330. Great advances in accurate time-keeping were made by Galileo Galilei and especially Christiaan Huygens with the invention of pendulum-driven clocks along with the invention of the minute hand by Jost Burgi. The English word clock probably comes from

2200-439: The first mechanical clocks driven by an escapement mechanism. The hourglass uses the flow of sand to measure the flow of time. They were used in navigation. Ferdinand Magellan used 18 glasses on each ship for his circumnavigation of the globe (1522). Incense sticks and candles were, and are, commonly used to measure time in temples and churches across the globe. Water clocks, and, later, mechanical clocks, were used to mark

2255-472: The frequency of electronic transitions in certain atoms to measure the second. One of the atoms used is caesium ; most modern atomic clocks probe caesium with microwaves to determine the frequency of these electron vibrations. Since 1967, the International System of Measurements bases its unit of time, the second, on the properties of caesium atoms. SI defines the second as 9,192,631,770 cycles of

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2310-438: The hours even at night but required manual upkeep to replenish the flow of water. The ancient Greeks and the people from Chaldea (southeastern Mesopotamia) regularly maintained timekeeping records as an essential part of their astronomical observations. Arab inventors and engineers, in particular, made improvements on the use of water clocks up to the Middle Ages. In the 11th century, Chinese inventors and engineers invented

2365-573: The nature of time. Plato , in the Timaeus , identified time with the period of motion of the heavenly bodies. Aristotle , in Book IV of his Physica defined time as 'number of movement in respect of the before and after'. In Book 11 of his Confessions , St. Augustine of Hippo ruminates on the nature of time, asking, "What then is time? If no one asks me, I know: if I wish to explain it to one that asketh, I know not." He begins to define time by what it

2420-505: The occurrence of a specified event as to hour or date is obtained by counting from a fiducial epoch – a central reference point. Artifacts from the Paleolithic suggest that the moon was used to reckon time as early as 6,000 years ago. Lunar calendars were among the first to appear, with years of either 12 or 13 lunar months (either 354 or 384 days). Without intercalation to add days or months to some years, seasons quickly drift in

2475-414: The offices of those who have previously served in an organization, group, or event such as, "past president," or, "past champions." "Past" can also refer to something or someone being at or in a position that is further than a particular point. For instance, in the sentence, "I live on Fielding Road, just past the train station," the word "past" is used to describe a location (the speaker's residence) beyond

2530-419: The passage of time from the shadow cast by its crossbar on a nonlinear rule. The T was oriented eastward in the mornings. At noon, the device was turned around so that it could cast its shadow in the evening direction. A sundial uses a gnomon to cast a shadow on a set of markings calibrated to the hour. The position of the shadow marks the hour in local time . The idea to separate the day into smaller parts

2585-618: The radiation that corresponds to the transition between two electron spin energy levels of the ground state of the Cs atom. Today, the Global Positioning System in coordination with the Network Time Protocol can be used to synchronize timekeeping systems across the globe. In medieval philosophical writings, the atom was a unit of time referred to as the smallest possible division of time. The earliest known occurrence in English

2640-576: The sciences, and the performing arts all incorporate some notion of time into their respective measuring systems . Traditional definitions of time involved the observation of periodic motion such as the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, and the passage of a free-swinging pendulum. More modern systems include the Global Positioning System , other satellite systems, Coordinated Universal Time and mean solar time . Although these systems differ from one another, with careful measurements they can be synchronized. In physics, time

2695-580: The term was used to refer to the marine chronometer , a timepiece used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation , a precision first achieved by John Harrison . More recently, the term has also been applied to the chronometer watch , a watch that meets precision standards set by the Swiss agency COSC . The most accurate timekeeping devices are atomic clocks , which are accurate to seconds in many millions of years, and are used to calibrate other clocks and timekeeping instruments. Atomic clocks use

2750-480: Was an illusion to humans. Plato believed that time was made by the Creator at the same instant as the heavens. He also says that time is a period of motion of the heavenly bodies . Aristotle believed that time correlated to movement, that time did not exist on its own but was relative to motion of objects. He also believed that time was related to the motion of celestial bodies ; the reason that humans can tell time

2805-466: Was because of orbital periods and therefore there was a duration on time. The Vedas , the earliest texts on Indian philosophy and Hindu philosophy dating to the late 2nd millennium BC , describe ancient Hindu cosmology , in which the universe goes through repeated cycles of creation, destruction and rebirth, with each cycle lasting 4,320 million years. Ancient Greek philosophers , including Parmenides and Heraclitus , wrote essays on

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2860-480: Was expanded and collapsed at will." According to Kabbalists , "time" is a paradox and an illusion . According to Advaita Vedanta , time is integral to the phenomenal world, which lacks independent reality. Time and the phenomenal world are products of maya , influenced by our senses, concepts, and imaginations. The phenomenal world, including time, is seen as impermanent and characterized by plurality, suffering, conflict, and division. Since phenomenal existence

2915-474: Was happening (when "I met her"). Depending on its usage in a sentence, "past" can be described using a variety of terms. Synonyms for "past" as an adjective include, "former," "bygone," "earlier," "preceding," and "previous." Synonyms for "past" as a noun include, "history, "background," "life story," and "biography." Synonyms of "past" as a preposition include, "in front of," "beyond," "by," and "in excess of." The word "past" can also be used to describe

2970-462: Was linear or cyclical and if time was endless or finite . These philosophers had different ways of explaining time; for instance, ancient Indian philosophers had something called the Wheel of Time. It is believed that there was repeating ages over the lifespan of the universe. This led to beliefs like cycles of rebirth and reincarnation . The Greek philosophers believe that the universe was infinite, and

3025-520: Was only slowly adopted by different nations over a period of centuries, but it is now by far the most commonly used calendar around the world. During the French Revolution , a new clock and calendar were invented as part of the dechristianization of France and to create a more rational system in order to replace the Gregorian calendar. The French Republican Calendar 's days consisted of ten hours of

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