I had a professor in college who felt strongly that space is a substance and that this was an important idea in Metaphysics.
2007-11-13 15:27:45 · 4 answers · asked by exp 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It WAS an important idea in metaphysics. And even Einstein wasn't against the notion. In fact, up until a certain point in history, it was thought that all forces required a substance to be transmitted through or they had no effect. But electromagnetism doesn't require any substance to impart an effect, and in the classic Michelson-Morley experiment in which the speed of light through the "ether" (the supposed "substance" of space) was measured, it (the ether) was found to import no resistance whatsoever to the passage of light, and its existence was not required for any other significant theories. The final nail in the coffin of "ether" was hammered in by Einstein when he developed his "curved space" theory, which says that mass curves space, and it is this curvature, not the transmission of any force (which acts instantaneously, in violation of the principle that no force can be transmitted faster than the speed of light) through ether, that causes objects to be attracted to each other gravitationally.
Now lately, empty space has been theorized in fact to be a foaming mass of constantly changing quantum states of the so-called "Higgs field", and it is thought that any object with mass or energy in fact diminishes the Higgs field somehow. In part, it is this "hole" that massful objects make in the Higgs field that has been theorized to in fact impart a certain resistance to some kinds of forces, and it has also been theorized to be the cause of the unexplained "negative gravity" that is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe.
So who knows... but for the most part, it is not generally thought that space is a substance.
2007-11-13 15:41:11 · answer #1 · answered by Don M 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In metaphysics, space is the 5th element of the ancients, called the 'aether' meaning "the sky" or "the heavens".
Before the structure and composition of space was understood, the aether was the substance that allowed light to propogate through the universe.
Today, science has determined that space contains very small amounts of matter (about 1 hydrogen atom per cubic meter of space), but that space itself is not a substance as such.
2007-11-13 15:40:06 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the particles in space are the only substance present.
2007-11-14 06:51:15 · answer #3 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ever tried to remove the space from your empty vacuum canister?
2007-11-13 15:37:49 · answer #4 · answered by JA 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋