The relationship between Time, Gravity, and Energy

The words time, gravity, and energy are commonplace in the vocabulary of most people and yet there is something enigmatic about each one when it comes to offering a precise definition of their meaning. We measure time using comparisons to the movements of our earth and sun, by the moving hands of a clock, and we see that it has multiple beginnings and endings. Sometimes we have too little, or too much so we quantify and share it out like water out of a bucket. However, we can analyse water and measure its physical properties and its chemical composition but not so with time. We have smashed atoms and discovered over two hundred different particles of matter but the scientific search for a fundamental particle of time has been fruitless. The writer suggests that one of the best definitions of time is that time is what prevents everything happening at once.

We measure gravity primarily as acceleration, meters per second squared being how fast an object’s velocity changes while falling. We know that the force of gravity exerted by a body is directly proportional to the mass of that body, the larger the mass the larger the force, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between bodies, double the distance and the force of gravity reduces by a quarter. The gravitational force exerted by large masses like blackholes warp the spacetime around them and in extreme cases crush matter out of existence to form a singularity. We can measure the force of gravity and define it by what it does without being able to say exactly what it is. The standard theory of particle physics predicts that there is a force carrying particle called a graviton, but if it exists it is extremely elusive.

We measure energy as the work done by a force; a Joule is the work done by a force of one newton over one meter. One of the fundamental concepts of science is that energy cannot be created or destroyed only changed from one form to another, heat energy can be changed to electrical energy which can be changed back to heat energy, or kinetic energy or into chemical energy that can be stored in a battery. We define energy by what it does or has the capacity to do, it is involved in all doing and without energy nothing happens. The processes of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion show that matter and energy are interchangeable; everything is energy and energy is everything. Time, gravity, and energy are the fundamental components of a cyclic universe. Time creates the space for energy to work the wonders of creation before gravity cleans up ready for recycling.

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