Re: Curved space-time?
From: Martin Hogbin (goatNOSPAM1_at_hogbin.org)
Date: 02/20/05
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Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:46:10 +0000 (UTC)
"Eric Mutta" <anon21h@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:1108842689.621837.26990@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi All,
>
>
> I keep hearing about curved space-time in a variety of articles but
> can't seem to get my head around the notion space being curve-able and
> of time and space being fusable.
Firstly, this group is full of crackpots, they are not to hard to spot
just ignore them.
Now to your two questions: how are space and time fused together,
and how can spacetime be curved?
The basic equations of special relativity (SR) are the
Lorentz transformations. These show how space and
time measurements in one frame of reference relate to
measurements made in a different (relatively moving)
frame of reference. They are quite simple and you could
easily find them using Google.
Minkowski noticed that these equations were the same
as those of a four dimensional space with rather strange
geometry. It is therefore possible for us to regard
ourselves as living in this strange four-dimensional space
(spacetime) rather than the three dimensional Euclidean
space plus time that Newtonian physics uses.
An analogy for the curvature of spacetime is the two
dimensional space on the surface of a sphere. Two-
dimensional Euclidean geometry does not apply in this
space.
>
> Then when I think of time, I think of a man-made logical device used
> for measuring the "distance" between the occurrence of two events of
> interest. (Time seems to be one of those things you can't define easily
> without using the word "time" itself, though I am aware of the
> definition of a second in terms of transitions of state in the
> cesium-133 isotope).
Nobody finds it easy to think about time.
> Now then, how do you fuse/combine space (the general absence of matter)
> and time (a logical device for measuring)? Or is this fusing a purely
> mathematical concept?
It is a mathematical concept, but no more so than 3-dimensional
Euclidean space is.
> Furthermore, how can space curve? That sounds like taking "nothingness"
> and giving it shape which doesn't seem to compute in my mind. OK,
> suppose that it could curve and we treat it as a hypothetical fourth
> state of matter coming after the gaseous state. Wouldn't it need to be
> contained in something and hence take on the curved shape of that
> something (much like a liquid in a container)? Or looking at it another
> way, how would curved space maintain its structure?
Matter and energy cause spacetime to curve. The relationship
can be defined mathematically; there is no more of an explanation.
Martin Hogbin
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