What is space and time??

Question

Ok i have watched 'The Universe', the show on The Discovery channel, like 10 times already(same show) and i still don't understand the "Space and Time" theory. Can someone please explain the whole concept of Space and Time to me?? I would really appreciate it! Thank you very much!

Answer 1

Exactly...

Answer 2

Space can't exist without time and time can't exist without space, together they form the space-time continuum!

Do you have any learning disabilities?

Answer 3

Space and time are better thought of as one concept, "spacetime."

Spacetime is the model of the fabric of the universe. Space composes the three dimensions we are familiar with. Time comprises the fourth dimension.

Anything with mass will curve spacetime. The result is perceived as gravity. Imagine a trampoline. When unoccupied, the trampoline remains flat. When an object is placed on the trampoline, it becomes curved. This is a general approximation of spacetime.  

Answer 4

It is a better idea to speak of Space-Time, for the two are woven together like a fabric.  Everything exists in Space-Time and occupies a place within it. How much it occupies is measured as what we call the object's gravity.  Imagine a sheet of fabric suspended like a bedsheet, and tigtly pulled on all sides.  That is Space-Time. Put a tennis ball on the bedsheet and it sits in a very small indention in the sheet. Put a bowling bowl on the sheet and it sits in a deeper indention.

This is the same way object's gravity warps the fabric of Space-Time. But what is time?  Time is the measurement of something constant that cannot change.  There is only one constant in the universe: the speed of light.  But light itself can be bent by gravity....think of the bowling bowl on the bedsheet...roll a marble directly at it and the marble will bend around the indention in the fabric before continuing on its way.  

But no matter what world you are in, no matter how much gravity there is, the speed of light will always be the same....again it is the only constant in the universe..whether you are on Jupiter or Earth it's the same.  But because Jupiter warps the fabric of Space-Time more (it is much more massive and thus has a stronger gravitational field), in order for you to perceive the speed of light at the same speed as you do on Earth, something has to give......Time.

If you were on Jupiter, your clock would run just as you think it should......but if an observer on Earth looked at your clock, they would see it moving slower than the same clock on Earth.  One hour of Earth time passing might only correspond to 30 minutes of Jupiter-time passing (So if you could instantly contact Jupiter and then after one hour on Earth contacted them again they would tell you only 30 minutes had passed..... this is only an estimate...I don't have the exact calculations).

It sounds strange because we like to think of time as an absolute.  But it is not....there is only Space-Time, which is all relative to the speed of light and who is observing it.

And this has been shown in experiments where it has been fouund that the further away from earth's gravity you get (even in an airplane flying at 20,000 ft) there are minute discrepancies between time observations on earth and those on the aircraft or spacecraft.