4 ms·
We're moving through spacetime with a constant speed, so the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time.
by cylon13 6y ago
We're moving through spacetime with a constant speed, so the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time.
- Ancapistani 6y agoI still don’t understand the graphs at the link, but this intuitively makes sense to me. Thank you - I now have a new, apparently accurate mental model of relativity.
- Ancapistani 6y agoI just had another thought. The word “dimension” in this context is overloaded. We think of space being three dimensions but really it’s only one - velocity relative to a specific reference frame. Thinking of it this way, the word “spacetime” makes sense; it’s a two-dimensional system: “spatial velocity” (S) on one axis and “temporal velocity” (T) on another. Both velocities are always measured against a reference frame, and their sum is c (c=S+T). This would mean that time travel is impossible not because of a “speed limit”, but because c is a dimensionless physical constant.
- abhishekjha 6y agoBy c do you mean the speed of light? How is it dimensionless?
- Koshkin 6y agoWhether something is dimensionless is pure convention. By making c dimensionless and, for even more convenience, setting its value to 1, you can measure distance in seconds!
- CydeWeys 6y agoYou can simplify some of your wording here. Direction-less (your "spatial") velocity is simply speed.