My Thoughts About Space-Time...
This is an essay that I wrote as research for the novel that I'm writing. Only the most basic concepts of quantum physics are accurate, the rest are theories that I developed solely for my book. Enjoy...
Based on the fundamental composition of our universe, there are limits on the speed at which anything can travel, even through a vacuum. These limits can be felt in two ways, one is in gravity. Any object that exhibits mass, begins to warp the space-time continuum as in Einstein's description. Anything that comes close enough to the object, including light—which exhibits no mass—experiences stretched and bent space. The bending of space is evident by the tendency of objects to be drawn in a particular direction, despite a lack of energy, propulsion, or contact forces. This force is relatively weak when compared to other fundamental forces like subatomic and electromagnetic forces, but when an object becomes massive enough without taking up volume, as in the case of a black hole, it can bend space enough that it subsequently bends time as well.
Theoretically, if a black hole were massive enough, it could even break the space-time continuum. There are a few different ways that theorists believe this could happen. One way is based on Einstein’s original theory of space-time, the one with which he describes it as a sheet. Mass rests on the sheet of space-time, and massive objects bend the sheet so that other objects are attracted to it. A massive enough black hole would tear a hole in the sheet to some other place. Another way that the space-time continuum would react to such extreme force is that the continuum itself would be compressed onto the singularity creating a pocket of space that would both stretch the space within the black hole’s sphere of gravitational influence and make other objects shrink as they approach the black hole. Objects near the black hole would take up a smaller percent of the overall space, because there is more of the space-time continuum packed into the small location near the singularity.
This second explanation is the more widely accepted and the more bizarre. The distortion to the continuum that this theory supposes is quite a bit more severe and has farther-reaching effects. Not only would objects in the immediate vicinity be stretched out, but distances would be impossible to measure because the amount of space between two points on either side of the distortion would be far more than it should be, due to the space compression on the black hole. The apparent distance between two points outside of the black hole's influence would be shorter than the ever-growing diameter of the black-hole's event horizon. the event horizon would not expand externally, however, it would rather expand internally, similar to what the mouth of a balloon does when the balloon is inflated.
These distortions are mild, however, when compared to the spatial distortions that researchers suspect would result from breaking the speed of light.
The other way that these fundamental limitations can be felt is with inertia. Inertia also happens to be the primary hurdle in defeating the light speed barrier. For an object that exhibits mass, the space-time continuum has placed limits on the rate at which the object can accelerate, similar to the limits on speeds through gaseous atmospheres. Also similar to what happens during atmospheric travel is what may happen when the light barrier is broken; it will cause severe disturbances throughout the medium of the continuum. When the speed of sound is broken it sends a shockwave through the atmosphere. In the case of FTL travel, the speed limit is light as opposed to sound, the medium is the space-time continuum as opposed to air, and the limiting agent is inertia as opposed to aerodynamic drag. So then, what is the shockwave? The atmospheric shockwave of a sonic boom can shatter glass from a mile away, so what happens when breaking the speed of light sends a shockwave through the medium? A shockwave through the atmosphere consists of compressions and rarefactions, which move the gases to different places and stretch and compress the atmosphere. The equivalent for the space-time continuum would be compressions and rarefactions of both space and time. Space would be thrown to another location, and time would be catapulted forward and backward. Just as in an atmosphere, the tremors would eventually settle out and everything would return to relative equilibrium, but things would be irreversibly changed.
The implications of traveling faster than the limits imposed by space and inertia are quite considerable and potentially devastating. There are aspects of our universe that we do not understand and potentially cannot, something akin to a fish trying to understand the concept of being wet.
Based on the fundamental composition of our universe, there are limits on the speed at which anything can travel, even through a vacuum. These limits can be felt in two ways, one is in gravity. Any object that exhibits mass, begins to warp the space-time continuum as in Einstein's description. Anything that comes close enough to the object, including light—which exhibits no mass—experiences stretched and bent space. The bending of space is evident by the tendency of objects to be drawn in a particular direction, despite a lack of energy, propulsion, or contact forces. This force is relatively weak when compared to other fundamental forces like subatomic and electromagnetic forces, but when an object becomes massive enough without taking up volume, as in the case of a black hole, it can bend space enough that it subsequently bends time as well.
Theoretically, if a black hole were massive enough, it could even break the space-time continuum. There are a few different ways that theorists believe this could happen. One way is based on Einstein’s original theory of space-time, the one with which he describes it as a sheet. Mass rests on the sheet of space-time, and massive objects bend the sheet so that other objects are attracted to it. A massive enough black hole would tear a hole in the sheet to some other place. Another way that the space-time continuum would react to such extreme force is that the continuum itself would be compressed onto the singularity creating a pocket of space that would both stretch the space within the black hole’s sphere of gravitational influence and make other objects shrink as they approach the black hole. Objects near the black hole would take up a smaller percent of the overall space, because there is more of the space-time continuum packed into the small location near the singularity.
This second explanation is the more widely accepted and the more bizarre. The distortion to the continuum that this theory supposes is quite a bit more severe and has farther-reaching effects. Not only would objects in the immediate vicinity be stretched out, but distances would be impossible to measure because the amount of space between two points on either side of the distortion would be far more than it should be, due to the space compression on the black hole. The apparent distance between two points outside of the black hole's influence would be shorter than the ever-growing diameter of the black-hole's event horizon. the event horizon would not expand externally, however, it would rather expand internally, similar to what the mouth of a balloon does when the balloon is inflated.
These distortions are mild, however, when compared to the spatial distortions that researchers suspect would result from breaking the speed of light.
The other way that these fundamental limitations can be felt is with inertia. Inertia also happens to be the primary hurdle in defeating the light speed barrier. For an object that exhibits mass, the space-time continuum has placed limits on the rate at which the object can accelerate, similar to the limits on speeds through gaseous atmospheres. Also similar to what happens during atmospheric travel is what may happen when the light barrier is broken; it will cause severe disturbances throughout the medium of the continuum. When the speed of sound is broken it sends a shockwave through the atmosphere. In the case of FTL travel, the speed limit is light as opposed to sound, the medium is the space-time continuum as opposed to air, and the limiting agent is inertia as opposed to aerodynamic drag. So then, what is the shockwave? The atmospheric shockwave of a sonic boom can shatter glass from a mile away, so what happens when breaking the speed of light sends a shockwave through the medium? A shockwave through the atmosphere consists of compressions and rarefactions, which move the gases to different places and stretch and compress the atmosphere. The equivalent for the space-time continuum would be compressions and rarefactions of both space and time. Space would be thrown to another location, and time would be catapulted forward and backward. Just as in an atmosphere, the tremors would eventually settle out and everything would return to relative equilibrium, but things would be irreversibly changed.
The implications of traveling faster than the limits imposed by space and inertia are quite considerable and potentially devastating. There are aspects of our universe that we do not understand and potentially cannot, something akin to a fish trying to understand the concept of being wet.
posted by Matt at 00:10
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