i am reading 'a briefer history of time' at the moment and it's fantastic but overwhelming at the same time. just started reading about wormholes and time travel. they are talking about curved space and how a wormhole would be taking the direct route not following the curvature of space/time. does this mean that any straight line we think we are taking through space is in fact curved.
and is it the same for vision through space ie: hubble.
we know that light bends through space but is it curved aswell? what causes the curvature?
2006-12-01 11:38:54 · 6 answers · asked by pleiades-im-coming-home 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If you enjoy that book you should read The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene next. Essentially the answer to your question is yes. Any straight line which we perceive is relative. Space and time is curved due to the force of gravity. Light is just the easiest example of a proof because of its speed. They verified Einsteins theory by observing the moon transit in front of a star. According to Newton, the star would reappear at the exact time the moon moved across, but in fact the star reappeared at a different time because of the influence of the moons gravity.
Your exapmle of the Hubble is perfect, what the hubble photographs is seen through the warping of space and time. As the light from a distant objects passes by stars, galaxies, black holes and other dark matter it is bent and appears top be in the exact position which we see. however, the object is necessarily where we observe it to be.
Wormholes are special and the best way to visualize his concept is to imagine a big inflated balloon. The surface of the balloon represents the universe. Hypothetically if you pick a starting point and travel in any direction you will eventually wind up where you started. Now imagine pinching the balloon by putting one finger on each side and indenting the balloon until your fingers touch. Now if you could cut the surface and glue each side to each other you would have something like a donut or torus. This is your wormhole, or shortcut to the other side of the universe. The mathematical study of topology goes into more detail of the study of sufaces but this is the general concept. Once again for a damn good read try Brian Greene.
2006-12-01 12:16:01 · answer #1 · answered by Texan Pete 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well. This is as far as I can answer to. Think about walking in a straight line on a sidewalk. Now zoom out to a view of the Earth. Wouldn't you be walking across the curved surface of the Earth? Simple solution for the first one.
For the vision issue, yes, it is curved. But it depends on nearby objects. Let's say we want to take a picture of a far-away galaxy. Now pretend there's a real heavy star in between (but not blocking) the galaxy and our camera. Because of the big star's gravity, it will curve the light rays that come from the galaxy to us. This accounts for some of the position errors that astronomers note in deep-space images.
And that was the easy answer... As far as complex curvature issues go, I don't know any more than that.
2006-12-01 19:43:29 · answer #2 · answered by Jesus 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, all light is curved by mass in space, It like looking at a star to the right of moon, but it's not really to the right of the moon it's behind the moon, this is duo to space being curved, So in that since if light is curved by mass then time must as well. This is what brings us to worm holes, that is whats called folding space, get a sheet of paper and draw a line straight across it, then place any where on the paper at least 5 different locations or dots, now fold the paper in half, you just folded space and created a worm hole cutting not only time off but distances and the fact that we can't go at the speed of light. If you really like to know more try reading the universe in a nut shell by Stephen Hawkins, you'll love it.
2006-12-01 21:42:13 · answer #3 · answered by matt v 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i'll put it this way. Going around the surface of an apple to the exact other side is like going in our 'straight' line. A wormhole would be like a hole going to the other side, the same spot. Direct, faster.
2006-12-01 22:01:35 · answer #4 · answered by obsessive_writer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the entire universe is like a donut , wrapping around and back to itself
the time is bent around too its like its easier to go through an apple by drilling a hole, a wormhole than it is by traveling around the outside
and other questions email me
spartan332277@yahoo.com
i did a research project on this last year
2006-12-02 01:03:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't worry your head over it dude, there's no such thing as travelling back in time. Maybe forward, but there's no coming back.
2006-12-01 19:55:05 · answer #6 · answered by Atlas 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋