Freezing Time

[Bthoth]

Good question. Which is why I created this thread. So we can discuss how light works and how it interacts with vision in relation to time and space

 

[Stevicus]

I used to watch a show with my daughters called Charmed, where one of the characters had the ability to freeze time.

If, hypothetically, you had the ability to freeze time, what, if anything, do you think you could see?

Reminds me of an episode of The Twilight Zone:

A Kind of a Stopwatch - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Of course, it always backfires.

 

[Revoltingest]

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I used to watch a show with my daughters called Charmed, where one of the characters had the ability to freeze time.

If, hypothetically, you had the ability to freeze time, what, if anything, do you think you could see?

If my theory that we are all just claymation characters in an eternal and absurd movie are true, you'd see the hand of God reach down and move things about between frames.

But there's at least a 10% chance that theory is the result of one too many coffees.

 

[Jimmy]

.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I used to watch a show with my daughters called Charmed, where one of the characters had the ability to freeze time.

If, hypothetically, you had the ability to freeze time, what, if anything, do you think you could see?

The science fiction author Larry Niven uses a concept called stasis like a box where there is no passage of time on the inside. Objects placed in stasis can be be retrieved later unchanged, because they experience no passage of time. I don't know if they mention being able to see in stasis or not and it may not be frozen time, but time greatly slowed to where the passage of 100's of thousands of years may only be less than a second to whatever is in stasis.

I'm going with Christine's explanation about light and seeing. That makes sense, but I'm not a physicist or a mathematician. There is every chance there are things I don't know to consider.

 

[Revoltingest]

If my theory that we are all just claymation characters in an eternal and absurd movie are true, you'd see the hand of God reach down and move things about between frames.

Dang....you're describing this documentary....

 

[Heyo]

But wouldn't light still be present? The photons would just be frozen in place. If we see light as a result of photons hitting the retina, if we were to move through/into the photons, would we then be able to see?

If you were to move, you'd have to move the air particles in your way but that can't be as they are frozen in time. If you could move them, then anything else could also - making it no longer stopped time.
It's magic and all the laws of physics and logic go out the window.

 

[syo]

Images.

 

[Onasander]

The science fiction author Larry Niven uses a concept called stasis like a box where there is no passage of time on the inside. Objects placed in stasis can be be retrieved later unchanged, because they experience no passage of time. I don't know if they mention being able to see in stasis or not and it may not be frozen time, but time greatly slowed to where the passage of 100's of thousands of years may only be less than a second to whatever is in stasis.

I'm going with Christine's explanation about light and seeing. That makes sense, but I'm not a physicist or a mathematician. There is every chance there are things I don't know to consider.

In his book A World Out Of Time people use it to store hot food and eat it years later. They reach in and take it out, so this implies seeing it to grab it.

 

[RestlessSoul]

What if you were somehow able to move within space in that frozen time?

Movement in space requires a corresponding movement in time. Movement is an event, and events necessarily have temporal dimensions (a beginning, a middle and an end).

 

[SalixIncendium]

Movement in space requires a corresponding movement in time. Movement is an event, and events necessarily have temporal dimensions (a beginning, a middle and an end).

I get it, but let's just assume for arguments sake, as in the show mentioned in the OP, that one could still move as the witches in the show did.

My guess is that if one was standing still, one would see nothing, as there is no way a photon could contact the retina, but if one was to begin moving into the photons then one would begin to see.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

In his book A World Out Of Time people use it to store hot food and eat it years later. They reach in and take it out, so this implies seeing it to grab it.

I've read it. Time would be greatly slowed and not stopped apparently.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I get it, but let's just assume for arguments sake, as in the show mentioned in the OP, that one could still move as the witches in the show did.

My guess is that if one was standing still, one would see nothing, as there is no way a photon could contact the retina, but if one was to begin moving into the photons then one would begin to see.

Light always travels at the speed of light, with reference to each observer. That’s a universal constant. So even if time and motion slowed to almost nothing, light would travel at the speed of light, relative to the witches.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Light always travels at the speed of light, with reference to each observer. That’s a universal constant. So even if time and motion slowed to almost nothing, light would travel at the speed of light, relative to the witches.

I'm not sure this is true. If time stopped, I would think photons would be frozen in place.

 

[ChristineM]

Light always travels at the speed of light, with reference to each observer. That’s a universal constant. So even if time and motion slowed to almost nothing, light would travel at the speed of light, relative to the witches.

Light can and has been stopped

Bringing light to a halt: Physicists freeze motion of light for a minute.

 

[Onasander]

I do believe the presence of witches may have an effect on local physics, if the magic is real. But not thermaldynamics, cause they can still burn. So some variables of physics may go wacky, but not the thermostat.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Light can and has been stopped

Bringing light to a halt: Physicists freeze motion of light for a minute.

Ah. The speed of light remains constant in a vacuum. And witches don't have vacuums, they have broomsticks, so that might confuse things.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I'm not sure this is true. If time stopped, I would think photons would be frozen in place.

If a photon froze, it would have zero energy. A photon with zero energy would be an ex photon, ie. dead, I think. If all the photons and electrons in the universe froze, they'd be in a state of thermal equilibrium, aka the heat death of the universe.

 

[Onasander]

If a photon froze, it would have zero energy. A photon with zero energy would be an ex photon, ie. dead, I think. If all the photons and electrons in the universe froze, they'd be in a state of thermal equilibrium, aka the heat death of the universe.

They would keep their energy, and aspects of physics that they operate off of not frozen would get friction and act weird. Hence virtual particles. We don't know too much about them, but have gotten them to appear from time to time in experiments.

I don't believe in multiple dimensions. But do think a photon depends upon and interacts with more than what we can experimentally observe. Something(s) hold they universe together and virtual particles suggest there is more than we are calculating.