Sample Questions #1  
Space and Time, Spring 2007

1. What is a metric?  What is the conventional metric of a one-dimensional Euclidean
space?  Are metrics conventional?  

2. How is time related to the mind?  Does time flow when nobody is thinking about it?

3. Do space and time have a definition?

4. What is a clock and a standard clock and what is involved in their being accurate or
inaccurate?

5. How are the definitions of the units of space, time and speed of light related to each
other?

6.  What is a leap second, what purpose do leap seconds serve, and what are the
problems involved in achieving this purpose?

7. Any actual measurement of spatial distance yields a rational number, so why does
everybody agree that distance is a real number and not always a rational number?

8. What is the relationship between time and change?

9. Discuss God and time.

10. Briefly describe Sydney Shoemaker's thought experiment about the three regions of
space, and state what he believes this shows.