Whats the difference between “time” and “proper time” in relativity?
Hi Marina Artuso A basic question from a student of philosophy. I’ve been reading article on the Internet eg the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy at http://www.iep.utm.edu/ancillaries/Proper-Time.htm trying to get a handle on time. They open by saying “The essence of the Special Theory of Relativity (STR) is that it connects three distinct quantities to each other: space, time, and proper time. ‘Time’ is also called ‘coordinate time’ or ‘real time’, to distinguish it from ‘proper time’. Proper time is also called clock time, or process time.” but that’s not really very helpful. Questions: In relativity, (in simple layman’s terms) is my “proper time” effectively just the time recorded by a clock that I always carry around with me? What’s the difference between “time” and “proper time”? Dear philosophy student: In special relativity time is sort of a “4th dimension”: what this means is that while in classical mechanics if my friend and I synchronize our watches at the airport, they w
