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I've got a Wibbly-Wobbly question:
A couple of years ago, on an episode of Nova, I heard/saw one of the clearest explanations of:
a) Why faster motion through Space means slower motion through Time, and vice-versa. And
b) How/Why it's helpful to think of Time as a dimension that runs, in some way, perpendicular to Space.
To summarize: the analogy was made to driving in a car at a fixed speed in a straight line (the example given was 60 mph). If you're traveling due North, then all of your progress will be northerly. But if you turn onto a Northwest direction, your northerly progress will slow down, even though you're still driving at 60 mph. And if you drive due West, your northerly progress will cease. And Time is linked to Space in the same way as North is linked to West.*
Okay. I get that (I think). However (and here comes my question) -- that very same program, during the opening credits, shows the familiar "fabric of space as a rubber sheet warped by the force of gravity" visualization. As I understand it (at least, as that visualization shows it) that warping (also?) occurs in a direction perpendicular to Space...
So is the curvature of Space, by the way of Gravity, synonymous with "time"? Or is "Space," itself, four dimensions, with Time being a fifth dimension? In other words, did Anthony Coburn, in writing the script for An Unearthly Child, express the nature of Spacetime more accurately than 99.99% of all the popular science writers (aiming to be properly educational) in the 50+ years since?
BTW, later in that same episode, they bring up the old saw about time travel back to the past: "If Time can flow in two directions, how come we never see entropy run in reverse?" Well, it's reported in this video that maybe we have, back in 2006.
*(I couldn't find this as a brief clip, but I did find the entire episode online. The explanation/visualization starts here, and runs for about a minute. The full discussion of this phenomenon lasts about four(ish) minutes; the full episode is 56 minutes).
a) Why faster motion through Space means slower motion through Time, and vice-versa. And
b) How/Why it's helpful to think of Time as a dimension that runs, in some way, perpendicular to Space.
To summarize: the analogy was made to driving in a car at a fixed speed in a straight line (the example given was 60 mph). If you're traveling due North, then all of your progress will be northerly. But if you turn onto a Northwest direction, your northerly progress will slow down, even though you're still driving at 60 mph. And if you drive due West, your northerly progress will cease. And Time is linked to Space in the same way as North is linked to West.*
Okay. I get that (I think). However (and here comes my question) -- that very same program, during the opening credits, shows the familiar "fabric of space as a rubber sheet warped by the force of gravity" visualization. As I understand it (at least, as that visualization shows it) that warping (also?) occurs in a direction perpendicular to Space...
So is the curvature of Space, by the way of Gravity, synonymous with "time"? Or is "Space," itself, four dimensions, with Time being a fifth dimension? In other words, did Anthony Coburn, in writing the script for An Unearthly Child, express the nature of Spacetime more accurately than 99.99% of all the popular science writers (aiming to be properly educational) in the 50+ years since?
BTW, later in that same episode, they bring up the old saw about time travel back to the past: "If Time can flow in two directions, how come we never see entropy run in reverse?" Well, it's reported in this video that maybe we have, back in 2006.
*(I couldn't find this as a brief clip, but I did find the entire episode online. The explanation/visualization starts here, and runs for about a minute. The full discussion of this phenomenon lasts about four(ish) minutes; the full episode is 56 minutes).