Could someone explain the concept of space time to me?

Question

Why does one segment of space have a different time then another? Why isnt time universaly the same for all regions of space.

Answer 1

Space time is locally flat and uniform for most humans.

e=mc^2

takes seconds to say and months to learn properly.

Answer 2

Time was and always will be consuming. Every thing that has taken place is and always will be. Just like the question you asked it is still taking place, on the string exactly at the same time you asked. It is not time that is moving it is us,we just half to give back the space we consumed in exchange for the time consuming us.

Answer 3

We live in spacetime.  3 dimensions of space, 1 of time.

Spacetime is their melding.  The further out into space one looks, the further back in time.  The two are connected because of the constancy of the speed of light.

Answer 4

This is a tough question to answer with a simple answer, but here goes...

First, realize that our perception of time is based on the speed of light. For instance, if someone is standing across the room from you and drops a ball, the event happens to the person across the room before it occurs in your world because - since they are closer - the image of the event (the light) reaches back to them first. It may be a very, very small difference, but it is a difference.

Next, imagine how the fabric of space works. Visualize what would happen if you stretched some clear plastic wrap across the top of a big bowl. It would be a flat surface. Now drop a large marble into the middle and watch how it bends all the plastic around it. If you were to try to roll a smaller marble straight across the plastic wrap, it's path would bend in toward the first, heavier marble. In space, planets distort space the same way, so when things like other planets, space junk and, most importantly, light pass through their distorted area, their position and speed change. The same principal keeps us in orbit of the Sun, and the moon around us. We're trapped in a circle around the much larger dent in space fabric the Sun makes, and the moon is trapped in ours.

Now imagine an event that takes place on, let's say, Mars. You and a person on Mars have watches that are synchronized. You drop a ball and check the exact time it hits the ground, let's say 2 seconds after 10 a.m. Now the light, however fast, still takes time to get to Mars. I don't know the distance off the top of my head, so let's just say it takes about 5 minutes to get there. The person on Mars won't be able to see that the ball dropped until 10:05:02 a.m., exactly five minutes later than you "actually" did it. An event only occurs once someone has measured it, in this case, by seeing it through a powerful telescope.

Imagine the light beam traveling from Earth to Mars, and imagine that it gets redirected - or possibly slowed, if the object is very heavy like a black hole - every time it passes by something with any kind of gravity. Since the speed of light dictates our perception of time, people or objects in different areas of space will have different times relative to ours, depending on how the light around them is warped.

I hope that helps, or at least piques your interest.

Answer 5

space time is an inter woven fabric, that is effected by gravity. gravity is created by mass. the time is one region of space is the same as every were else, unless it is effected by a gravitational field "mass". and that effect is only felt in that region that the field exists.

example i'm standing at an event horizon of a massive black hole, you are standing on your ship a thousand light years away moving away. for me time would seem to stand still, your ship would would never move, due to the gravitational field created by the black hole. but to you observing me out side that field i would fall in to the black hole and vanish.

Answer 6

space and time, easy

Answer 7

First of all - the time is not different to each segment of space, but for each observer. An observer can be a human, but also even a subatomic particle.

Space time is just the idea, that space and the progression of time are tied together. If you move fast, you will observe the universe distorted. Because you observe it distorted, the time progression of the universe around you will also be distorted to compensate.

So, theoretically, there could be a uniform time for all segments of space - but you can't observe it, as you are just a relative observer. You can't even measure your own absolute velocity only your relative motion to other objects. Same with the time progression - you can only measure your relative time.

That is relativity. ;)