Albert Einstein used to say that if you cannot explain it to a six-year-old you haven’t understood the concept yourself. This article will be an attempt to make a layman of physics understand a seemingly complex concept such as The space-time continuum. In order to do so we must first understand the concept of space itself. How does space exist and what rules does it obey? The best explanation of which was laid down by Einstein himself, however, it is pretty self-explanatory. Look at a drawing, a drawing has two dimensions that are length and width, anything similar to a drawing will be considered 2d (two dimensions) this includes TV shows, posters, and practically anything of that sort. Such concepts do not have a height but rather just length and breadth. Moving on, we see 3d shows available in cinemas all the time. What makes them special and better than the 2d objects? The fact they have an additional dimension that is height, is more relatable to us.
How are we different from the characters in a 3d movie by criteria of physics? Albert Einstein proposed the existence of another dimension in our observable universe, the dimension of time. He stated that our observable universe consists of 3 dimensions of length, width, and height being the three dimensions of space and one separate dimension of time. Together this is known as the space-time continuum. A 4-dimensional continuum consisting of,
1. Length
2. Width
3. Height
4. Time
Furthermore, we can logically conclude that each of these dimensions are linked to each other, not just that but that no two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects can exist without an intervention from a being of higher dimension i.e a 2d drawing may not exist without a human drawing it who exists in a higher dimension. A shadow (2d) may not exist without the existence of a higher dimensional being/object i.e. a shadow can only manifest when light is blocked by something that has a height. Now I would like to pose a question to our atheist friends, if a lower dimension cannot exist without intervention from a higher dimension, then what does that say about the existence of four dimensions?
One may argue that if a dimension cannot exist without intervention from a higher dimension then logically the higher dimension cannot exist without intervention of a much higher dimension. We say that we find from the observable dimensions that no higher dimension has to obey the laws that limit its lower dimension, a 2 dimensional object can only exist if a 3 dimensional object exists however the 4th dimension of time exists regardless of its below two dimensions. Logically we can conclude two things
1. Existence is a series of infinite dimensions and each dimension grows in potency in relation to its lower dimension, then rationally a dimension should have achieved infinite omnipotence thereby making it impossible for there to be a higher dimension than it
2. Any dimension above time is above human understanding and it can only be speculated that the inception of said dimensions was caused by whatever isn’t bound by the laws of dimension-ism
Both of these arguments support a theistic claim.
Think of the space-time continuum as one intertwined fabric. What happens when you put a heavy object on a fabric? It definitely dips down causing a bend or a dent in the fabric, any object lighter than our prior object when placed around this fabric falls into this dent. The way it falls isn’t even in a straight line rather it spins down towards it in circles. It both rotates and revolves. This phenomenon of this object getting pulled down towards the object that is heavier is known as gravity. The planets revolving and rotating around the sun can be explained from this analogy. Einstein’s theory of general relativity concluded that gravity is a consequence rather than a force itself, improvising the Newtonian theory which believed that it is a force in itself. From this physicists concluded that everything with mass has gravity to it.
Black holes:- This beautifully helps us understand seemingly complicated concepts such as black holes. When an object increases in mass due to its exceeding gravitational pull, it is theorized that it tears open the fabric of space itself, causing time itself to tear (metaphorically) i.e the space-time curvature bends so much that familiar laws of physics stop getting applied on it. Thereby becoming a void with seemingly infinite gravitational pull that bends light itself. Where does this bend or curve in the space-time curvature lead to? This point is known as the singularity and it's quite literally an unknown territory, perhaps to a different world? We never know!
Wormholes:- From the einsteinian premise let us assume that there is a blank piece of paper, on the paper are two distant points point A and point B namely. Our basic laws of physics suggest the shortest distance between these points would be a straight line. However what if I along with Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosan suggest a shorter path? Just fold the paper so that points A and B meet. Now considering the space-time continuum acts like a fabric, this exact principle can be applied to two points in the universe, this is known as the Einstein-Rosan bridge or Wormhole. This has been theorized by not just Einstein, contrary to the common narrative. The theory makes it sound quite simple but the existence itself has quite some complications to it. For example, for a wormhole to be traversable and stable, it requires exotic matter with negative energy density. This type of matter violates known energy conditions and has not been observed.
The goal of this article was to simplify concepts that science fiction movies make complex to understand, and also to geek out on stuff that made me excited as a child and now. I do hope I was able to achieve it. Whatever I was right about was from, and whatever I was wrong about was from me. Peace be upon the reader and blessings of god.