If time is relative what does it mean to say the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago? Relative to who?
If time is relative what does it mean to say the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago? Relative to who?
Excellent questions and point.If time is relative what does it mean to say the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago? Relative to who?
I don't think that's the kind of "relativity" the OP was asking aboutTime and space are relative to here and now. Here and now is the zero point. The past is expanding, but it is all we are capable of perceiving in the normal course of things. Mystics can experience the here and now and realize in some fashion that the universe is all one thing, and all that we perceive is the illusion of separateness.
But one observer may see two events as separated by space but simultaneous in time, another, from a different viewpoint will see those two events as occurring at different times at the same spatial location. And that is the spacetime relativity that is under discussion.I don't think that's the kind of "relativity" the OP was asking about.
According to mainstream scientists and chronologists, based on uranium-lead series radiometric dating of moon rocks the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old therefore years did not exist before that because the Earth wasn't orbiting the Sun.to earth years, the distance it takes for the Earth to make a complete 1 orbit around the sun. Is that not obvious?
According to mainstream scientists and chronologists, based on uranium-lead series radiometric dating of moon rocks the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old therefore years did not exist before that because the Earth wasn't orbiting the Sun.
Furthermore the earth has not always been on it's present orbit so 13.7 billion years ago is a meaningless statement.
According to your own statement the time did not exist before we have invented the watch. Also the distant galaxies did not exist before we have invented really huge telescopes. Also your parents did not exist, before you have been born.According to mainstream scientists and chronologists, based on uranium-lead series radiometric dating of moon rocks the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old therefore years did not exist before that because the Earth wasn't orbiting the Sun.
Furthermore the earth has not always been on it's present orbit so 13.7 billion years ago is a meaningless statement.
According to your own statement the time did not exist before we have invented the watch. Also the distant galaxies did not exist before we have invented really huge telescopes. Also your parents did not exist, before you have been born.
Actually not so, since year is defined only as relating to the orbit of the earth around the sun, years could not have "existed" before there was an earth. The existence of Galaxies, parents, etc. are not defined in terms that require outside observation. AOS's point must be attacked from a different direction
why would they not exist?
You must determine what AOS means by existence.
how so? is a meter a meaningless unit measurement because rulers did not always exist?
Year is a measurement based on the orbit of the earth around the sun, I am unaware if Meter is like Foot (based on the length of an apendage) or if it is an arbitrary measurement agreed upon for convenience. Either way these did not "exist" as measurements before they were agreed upon by human beings. All measurement is arbitrary though what is being measured is not.
Actually not so, since year is defined only as relating to the orbit of the earth around the sun, years could not have "existed" before there was an earth. The existence of Galaxies, parents, etc. are not defined in terms that require outside observation. AOS's point must be attacked from a different direction
A year is defined as 365.25 days 86,400 SI seconds each.
SI second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.
To repeat what others have said......Relative to who?
It is relative to us, now. If you want to break it down, you can. And in the (relatively) distant future when things have shifted significantly, if we are still around there should be terminology that emerges to reflect or correct previous terms/units for measurement in relation to word/concepts like an earth year. Time existed before the earth was formed and "settled" on its current orbit. We have symbols and points of reference to help us express our concept of time. The concept of a year is a moving target but as approximations it works to exchange information in a convenient way. In that sense, our word/concepts of "day" and "hour" are fairly inaccurate but are practical enough....Furthermore the earth has not always been on it's present orbit so 13.7 billion years ago is a meaningless statement.
Well you could convert 13.7 billion years into SI seconds. This time measurement would not be reliant on earth ever existing. An SI second is the duration of 9192631770cycles of radiation corresponding to the transition between two energy levels of the caesium-133 atom (but we all knew that). Now in SI seconds we would have a number that you nor I could relate to. I on the other hand, know about how long a year is and can sorta see that 13.7 billon years is even longer than I can hold my breath.According to mainstream scientists and chronologists, based on uranium-lead series radiometric dating of moon rocks the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old therefore years did not exist before that because the Earth wasn't orbiting the Sun.
Furthermore the earth has not always been on it's present orbit so 13.7 billion years ago is a meaningless statement.