What is time?
Time can be hard to understand, because it's not something you can see, touch, taste, smell, or feel. Time is basically just a way of thinking of or talking about moments, events, or when something has happened or is going to happen!
Think, for example, about the last meal you ate. Was it "this morning" or "this afternoon"? Maybe you know that it was "at 1:00." These terms are all ways of talking about time, or, when something happened!
In order to talk about time more easily, most people use hours, minutes, and seconds. This system of numbers is made up of measurable divisions of time that have been assigned to cover the duration of one full day, from when the sun comes up to when the moon comes out!
Assigning names to these amounts of time helps people to discuss and compare them. For example, someone might say that your favorite TV show is going to start "in five minutes." Because we've measured out an amount of time that equals five minutes, everyone knows how long that amount of time is, and you can know when your show will begin so you don't have to miss any of it!
by Mya Kagan (Whyzz writer(
Further Information
People have been thinking, learning, and talking about time for thousands and thousands of years. Before we had watches and clocks, people used the sun, moon, and stars to help them describe when something was going to happen!
