Knowledge, Information and Experience
The dimension of time is of clear importance for adaptation and orientation in the physical and social environment.
Time shapes human life and behaviour. Physical events proceed according to objective time and biological cycles are controlled by internal pacemakers, but psychological time – how humans experience it – differs in various important ways. Psychological time is discrete and non-continuous,non-linear, highly context-dependent and, as in a dream, does not necessarily flow from the past to the future.
An electric clock is a clock that is powered by electricity, as opposed to a mechanical clock which is powered by a hanging weight or a mainspring. The term is often applied to the electrically powered mechanical clocks that were used before quartz clocks were introduced in the 1980s.
An atomic clock is a clock device that uses an electron transition frequency in the microwave, optical, or ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum of atoms as a frequency standard for its timekeeping element.
Philosophers have debated the nature of time long before Einstein and modern physics. But in the 106 years since Einstein, the prevailing view in physics has been that time serves as the fourth dimension of space, an arena represented mathematically as 4D Minkowski spacetime. However, some scientists, including Amrit Sorli and Davide Fiscaletti, founders of the Space Life Institute in Slovenia, argue that time exists completely independent from space. In a new study, Sorli and Fiscaletti have shown that two phenomena of special relativity – time dilation and length contraction – can be better described within the framework of a 3D space with time as the quantity used to measure change (i.e., photon motion) in this space.
Various extra features, called “complications”, such as moon-phase displays and the different types of tourbillon, are sometimes included. Modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions.
Developments in the 2010s include smartwatches, which are elaborate computer-like electronic devices designed to be worn on a wrist. They generally incorporate timekeeping functions, but these are only a small subset of the smartwatch’s facilities.
Clock drift refers to several related phenomena where a clock does not run at exactly the same rate as a reference clock. That is, after some time the clock “drifts apart” or gradually desynchronizes from the other clock. This phenomenon is used, for instance, in computers to build random number generators.
Last but not the least – Clock and watches, once just instruments for knowing the time, now range from creatively designed fashion accessories for individuals, to essential components in a diverse array of medical, telecommunications and other high-technology wearable information equipment.
