- #1
Supercritical
From my understanding of spacetime, space and time are one; an object cannot be displaced a distance without also being displaced in time. The only way to travel through space without also moving through time is to "curve" spacetime around you. Previously, I have had difficulty understanding exactly what was meant by "curving" spacetime, but I think I might have found an analogy that speaks to how this is done.
Imagine a supercavitating torpedo at rest in an ocean; it uses gases to force water out of its way as it moves beneath the surface. We'll say distance in the ocean is measured according to our normal experience on Earth. However, time is measured by displacement through the water. The only way to travel through space without also moving through the water is to "curve" the water around you
We'll say the supercavitating torpedo is spraying gases a little bit when it is at rest, making an air/water bubble mix in the area immediately around the torpedo. If a rag were to suddenly appear right next to the torpedo, it would become saturated with water slightly after a similar rag simultaneously placed a longer distance away.
Now as the torpedo begins to accelerate, we'll say its gas pressure also increases. The water is being forced out of the way more quickly, but there is also back pressure from the water in front of the torpedo, caused by forward motion. However, we'll say the gas pressure increases slightly faster than does the back pressure from the water in front of the accelerating torpedo. Therefore, time appears to slow down on board the torpedo to a stationary observer, due to an overall decrease in water flux past the torpedo. Eventually, the torpedo reaches a certain velocity where the gas pressure becomes high enough to create a cavity in the water, in which the torpedo travels. Now, there is no water flux past the torpedo, so it ceases to experience time.
Does this analogy illustrate roughly why a hypothetical conscious observer on a beam of light would not experience time? The light travels in a translating cavity wherein the time component of spacetime has been somehow evacuated?
I think the picture in this Wikipedia article illustrates my visualization.
Of course, there are changes to space as well, but I would rather talk about the time component of this subject.
Imagine a supercavitating torpedo at rest in an ocean; it uses gases to force water out of its way as it moves beneath the surface. We'll say distance in the ocean is measured according to our normal experience on Earth. However, time is measured by displacement through the water. The only way to travel through space without also moving through the water is to "curve" the water around you
We'll say the supercavitating torpedo is spraying gases a little bit when it is at rest, making an air/water bubble mix in the area immediately around the torpedo. If a rag were to suddenly appear right next to the torpedo, it would become saturated with water slightly after a similar rag simultaneously placed a longer distance away.
Now as the torpedo begins to accelerate, we'll say its gas pressure also increases. The water is being forced out of the way more quickly, but there is also back pressure from the water in front of the torpedo, caused by forward motion. However, we'll say the gas pressure increases slightly faster than does the back pressure from the water in front of the accelerating torpedo. Therefore, time appears to slow down on board the torpedo to a stationary observer, due to an overall decrease in water flux past the torpedo. Eventually, the torpedo reaches a certain velocity where the gas pressure becomes high enough to create a cavity in the water, in which the torpedo travels. Now, there is no water flux past the torpedo, so it ceases to experience time.
Does this analogy illustrate roughly why a hypothetical conscious observer on a beam of light would not experience time? The light travels in a translating cavity wherein the time component of spacetime has been somehow evacuated?
I think the picture in this Wikipedia article illustrates my visualization.
Of course, there are changes to space as well, but I would rather talk about the time component of this subject.