Section 1.

4: Time and change

Section Goals
You will learn

• the arrow of time of the universe and the principle of

causality.

• the second as the standard unit to measure time.

• the existence of various scales of time for physical

objects and events in the universe.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Ltd.

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Section 1.4: Time and change

• Time flows in one direction, whereas there is no flow of

direction as such in all three dimensions of space.

• This “arrow of time” points to the future and it means a

causal relationship between events, which leads to the
principle of causality:

Whenever an event A causes event B, all

observers see event A happen first.
(cause & effect; A = cause, B = effect)

© 2015 Pearson Education, Ltd.

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Section 1.4: Time and change

• The standard unit of time is the

second (denoted by s).

• The second is defined as the duration

of 9,192,631,770 periods of certain
radiation emitted by cesium atoms.

• The time scales in the universe range

from 10-44 s (Planck time) to 1018 s ≈
14 billion years (the age of the
universe).
© 2015 Pearson Education, Ltd.
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