Why do we have time? — KD, McMinnville, Oregon
Time is the fourth dimension, similar to but not equivalent to the three spatial dimensions. With four dimensions in our universe, we need four values to specify the exact location of each event—three values that specify that event’s location in space and one value that specifies its location in time. Space and time are intimately related so that we perceive time in terms of space and space in terms of time. For example, you sense the distance of a remote city by how long it would take you to get there. Similarly, you sense the large separation between two moments in time by how far you could travel between those two moments. But as to “why we have time,” I can only answer that it’s part of the nature of our universe.