• Question: Could time be relative? Because apparently flies live life in slow motion. SO is it size related. Could there be a way to control time via this idea?

    Asked by face to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by danm36.
    • Photo: Joseph Cook

      Joseph Cook answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I’m unaware of anything that suggests that flies live in slow motion, where did you hear this? I think time is the same for flies, but they may have quicker responses to stuff than us. I’d be interested to know if there is evidence to suggest that their perception of time is different.

    • Photo: Rachael Fox

      Rachael Fox answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Time is relative, I’m not sure about the size relationship in terms of flies but there was an experiment at the CERN facility where some really really small particles were created and lasted much longer than expected because they were so small.
      I can’t find a link for the experiment at the moment but I’ll add one in the comments when I do…

    • Photo: Dr Hywel Jones

      Dr Hywel Jones answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      What you are talking about is the perception of time by living beings rather than time itself. Flies see things in slow motion (although to them it is normal speed) but this does not mean that time is changing speed.

    • Photo: Poonam Kaushik

      Poonam Kaushik answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Time is absolute. u can define it like earth takes 24hrs to revolve around its axis. So this is the reference thing for us. Now coming to ur example fly! fly or any other small/big creature is not at all related to time. u r perhaps talking about speed dear which as per ur slow movement thing says less distance covered in long time. I suppose! there is no way to control time by this idea. try a small experiment. Do everything sowly in slow motion and c cn u stop watch by doing so.

      U know answer wil be no………………………cheers!!!

Comments

  • Photo: danm36

    danm36 commented on :

    I suspect that flies may have faster responses in their neurons in the brain, which can allow them to avoid being swatted (A pain for many of us) as they percieve time at a slower rate than us (As Dr Hywel also said). This could also mean that the saying ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ could be that response speed in the brain change, making us percieve time faster, even though it’s not.

  • Photo: face

    face commented on :

    Hm, what you’re saying could be interpreted as “Flies are more developed/Intelligent than humans.” Interesting.