Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Counting space-time dimensions or can I just stand still anywhere?

When counting dimensions of space-time I have been very careful not to violate the Theory of Relativity which is the basis for this discussion.

The first three dimensions are easy; up down; forward back; side to side. The next is time; past to future. Our senses pretty much keep track of these dimensions. The speed of light (in a vacuum) is always constant within these four dimensions. I will call these four dimensions the “primary dimensions.”

Now there are 6 more dimensions needed to take into account the effects of gravity on space-time. When I am in a gravitational field then time slows and distance contracts in the direction of the field and time speeds up and distance increases away from the gravitational field. This is necessary so that the speed of light always stays constant for the “primary dimensions.” Therefore time and distance change in unison along all of the first 3 dimensions when they are within a gravitational field but since it is not obvious this has occurred and does not affect the measurements using the first four dimensions we needed to add 6 more. These 6 dimensions I will call “secondary dimensions” since they are real but our senses do not pick them up.

So I am counting ten dimensions.

Now I really want to stand still. Kind of like I want to reach absolute zero. So to do this I need an “imaginary” point of reference that is not part of the ten dimensions already described. What I really need is the four “primary dimensions” that are not part of the first ten and do not move and where time runs constant all the time. These four dimensions I will call the “imaginary primary dimensions.” They give me the “imaginary coordinate system” I need to watch what really is going on with the ten real dimensions so I can see if I can stand still. Using the “primary dimensions” I see the speed of light is always constant, but using the “imaginary primary dimensions” I see the speed of light is not constant, due to the elastic nature of space-time in a gravity field.

Hmm, so can I stand still? Since the 10 real dimensions have no reference point because space-time is elastic I chose to stand still in space according to my “imaginary reference point” using my “imaginary primary dimensions” but now I am constantly moving. Why? Because weak gravitational fields contract distance and slow time as I move through them and as I move closer to the field space-time contracts moving me away from my imaginary reference point where I wanted to stand to be still. So if I wanted to be standing still I would need to move back to my “imaginary” reference point. In order to stand still according to my “imaginary” reference point I would need to be constantly moving as I was buffeted by subtle changes in gravity.

So to stand still I need to get rid of all changes in gravity and therefore eliminate all matter and energy because they are just causing disruptions in my bid to stand still. I could then “possibly” eliminate the need for the “secondary dimensions.” Now if I could do that then the “primary dimensions” would be still and perfect and the “primary dimensions” would be equivalent to the “imaginary primary dimensions” and the “imaginary coordinate system” would be equivalent to the “primary coordinate system” that our ordinary senses recognize and then my “imaginary body” could stand still.
If I wanted to move in uniform motion with another object in space-time I would keep my distance from that object the same. Using the primary dimensions for measurements and I would also apply the amount of constant energy needed to counteract the gravitational field between us to keep us the same distance apart as we moved. However, if I plot my uniform motion with another object using the “imaginary primary coordinate system” I would find that we did not move uniformly through space-time. The distance between us would vary as we moved though subtle changes in the gravity fields.

Hmm… so not only can I not stand still in space-time in reference to my “imaginary reference point” without continuous motion but I cannot move in uniform motion with another object through space-time in reference to my “imaginary coordinate system” (that has matter in it) without constant adjustment to our trajectory and adjustment of the distance between us. So to move uniformly with another object through space-time you can only do it if there is no mass and energy disrupting space-time and disrupting the whole idea of uniform motion.

Well I must admit, getting rid of matter and energy is a bad idea.

Of course if I could just get outside space-time, there’s the trick. That’s where fields can’t affect you. But that’s another dimension.
So what is space-time anyway? If you stretch something elastic enough (space-time) does it tear? If you compress something elastic enough (space-time) does it change state? If you can stretch and compress something elastic (space-time) does that mean you can get “outside” of it since it is implied that there is plenty of extra room (extra emptiness) to stretch it further that you have not used? What are the physical limits of space-time?

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