What is space?

Post-graffiti.

 

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Oh.


Mayan or Aztec post-graffiti?

 

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Mayan.

 

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The cosmological consensus called the standard cosmology primarily consists of Big Bang Theory with Inflation (BBT). BBT includes General Relativity and the Cosmological Principle. In that context, space and time are coupled and existed immediately after the initial event from which expansion of the universe began. A period of exponential expansion occurred after which the matter and energy that we call our expanding observable universe followed a course of nucleosynthesis to form matter as we know it and from which galactic structure and larger scale structure took shape. As expansion proceeds, space is added to the universe and the galaxies for the most part separate from each other in the same way no matter which way you look and no matter where you are looking from within the universal co-moving coordinate system.

Much of the standard cosmology is theory and according to the scientific method, even the best established theories have a characteristic called tentativeness. That means that as science progresses, any pillar of cosmology can be torn down if new observations or evidence demands change.

In the OP the aether was mentioned. It was a theory that failed the test. But some say though that mass and the aether are connected in such a way the mass drags the aether and so the tests were unable to detect it.

It was mentioned that space is simply where things happen, or that it is energy, or that it is filled with energy, or that it is a vacuum, or it is filled with the vacuum energy density of the cosmological constant, or this or that. It was mention that we just don't know, and it was said that people should speak for themselves.

So I will.

Space is potentially infinite. Space has always existed and is filled with energy, there are no voids. The energy that fills space has energy density at all points in space. The energy density is constantly fluctuating at all points in space. Energy density fluctuations have always been going on in all space.

There has always been so much energy in space that matter is forced to take shape from the energy density fluctuations and so matter has always existed. Matter forms from energy in quantum increments.

The quantum increments are the result of quantum waves that converge and the convergences focus energy into high density spots. When a high density spot equals a quantum of energy it forms a new spherically expanding quantum wave in a process called quantum action. Quantum action is the force that takes place at the most infinitesimal level in the tiniest meaningful amount of space.

Multiple spherically expanding quantum waves continually overlap, forcing energy into convergences at their intersections as the overlaps occur, and new spherically expanding quantum waves are continually generated by that process. The energy density in the particular energy environment determines the frequency of quantum action.

The background energy and the continual quantum waves that traverse the energy background make up the aether. When the energy density in a given space is high enough, the occurrence of quantum action (frequency) and the formation of quantum waves from quantum action will cause matter to stand out from the background.

Mass contains energy in quantum increments and each of those increments is characterized by a rapid and continuous succession of quantum action within mass for each quantum of energy composing the mass. This continuous quantum action forms a continuous sequence of high density spots that gives mass its "mass", and each spot bursts into a quantum wave that converges with other waves in mass and forms new high density spots to maintain the mass. A portion of each wave passes out of the mass and causes gravity but that is another thread

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In this way, matter forms in space from the energy background and occupies space within the background.

Spherical expansion: Spherical expansion is characterized by co-moving spherical coordinates as the radius increases, just like the volume of the space occupied by a balloon expands when you blow it up.

Energy waves: When energy is in the process of expanding spherically, it is an energy wave. An energy wave is an expanding sphere of energy.

Consistent energy content: When an energy wave expands the energy is distributed consistently so that the energy density at each coordinate point in the sphere is the same, and as expansion progresses and energy density declines it declines equally at all points throughout the sphere; the energy density is said to remain equalized across the volume as it increases.

Equal energy content: A quantum of energy is defined as the smallest energy increment that can participate in the formation of matter. Each quantum wave contains a quantum of energy and all quantum waves therefore are of equal energy content.

Overlapping waves: Spherically expanding energy waves intersect and the intersection forms what are called 3-D lens shaped intersections. Geometrically, there are two spherical caps per intersection, and the number of surfaces of each 3-D lens equals the number of spheres intersecting to form the convergence.

Convergence: This is a 3-D space confined within spherical surfaces where the number of surfaces is equal to the number of spheres intersecting to form the 3-D space. The volume of the convergence space relative to the sum of the volumes of space of all of the intersecting spheres is diminished by each additional sphere that becomes involved by intersecting with the convergence space (complicated so don't worry about it). When a convergence contains a quantum of energy it bursts into expansion of its own forming a new spherically expanding quantum energy wave.

Quantum of energy: This is the tiniest amount of energy that is useful. It is the amount of energy involved in quantum action and that is contained in each quantum wave. It is the minimum amount of energy that can stand out from the background aether.

That is space and what is going on in it IMHO.

 

In any universe, anywhere.

 

Who I obviously speak for, as evidenced by the replies, are all the people on this thread - yourself included.

So I mean we don't know. Don't dare to speak for me and then tell me to speak for myself.

 

I'm a fan of quantum_wave. Very elegant account. Of course, elegance isn't everything...

 

Thank you

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. I'm adding you to my Buddy List.

True. I'm just looking for a way that things could work at the quantum level. It is protoscience because it is consistent with observations but direct testing is not possible.

 

Start a new thread.

 

We shouldn't need Einstein to tell us that but maybe it will help with some people.
But it expands????? Having no substance, it can't expand.

 

I like to think that Einstein describes the dynamics of space on the large scale, and quantum mechanics describes the substance of space on the small scale. String theory and quantum_wave theory attempt to do both. But hey, I'm no expert...

 

And in what way does lack of substance preclude expansion? Your not trying to deny the anticedent are you?

-Andrew

 

Having no substance, there's nothing to expand! There's nothing to space but space. It's the 3D area everything exists in. It's not made of anything.
Maybe SOME THING(S) is expanding farther out into space.

 

What about length/distance? The very things which define space.
Distance is a discrete quantity. Can quantities increase? Yes. Therefore, space (the distance between things in our universe) can increase. Evidence points that the universe is increasing in volume; that is, by definition, the expansion of space.

-Andrew

 

Your point is clear and well said, but the evidence is that the galaxies are moving away from each other and that is true no matter which way we look and is said to be true no matter where you might be looking from. It is not so clear that the universe is increasing in volume. The space occupied by the observable universe is increasing in volume, true, but if we are in an expanding universe, it is the galaxies that are separating to encompass an increasing volume of space, not necessarily space itself increasing.

The distinction is that galaxies formed from matter that was born in an expanding energy environment will have separation momentum if I can coin a phrase. The momentum of the initial expansion was imparted to matter as it formed. Momentum is conserved and so the separate galaxies have the sum of the momentum of the particles from which they formed. The conserved momentum, galaxy by galaxy would be translated into galaxies that are all moving away from each other just like the initial particles had separation momentum when they formed, IMHO.

 

Length/distance does not define space. It measures portions of it.
If anything grows or expands, it grows into more space that's already there.
Blow up a balloon. It expands into more space than it previously occupied. It doesn't create more space.

 

I don't feel like participating in the Inflation vs explosion debate that likes to crop up in this forums every now and then, at this time. I'm going to stick with what the scientific consensus says is the best theory based on current evidence.

EDIT:

Which still supports my point: space thus does have a discrete quantity which we can measure. A quantity could of course expand, ergo, nothing there precludes space from expanding, and we have proven that it poses a variable which may expand.

If any object in space moves away, it moves through space. Yes. But that doesn't preclude space itself from expanding.

False analogy; there's nothing about a balloon blowing up that precludes space from expanding. It does however demonstrate where the conceptual stumbling block lies.

Blow up the same ballon, but mark a bunch of dots on it. Measure the distance between them. Blow it up some more now. Measure the distance between them again. They all increased eh? The surface are aof the balloon expanded. It didn't expand 'into' anything (no, it didn't expand into the room either: surface area occupies no volume; though the balloon's material may, which is what you would observe to be taking up space), it simply expanded.

-Andrew

 

The line you quoted is elaborating on the the answer to the thread question in a different way than I did. That line & most of that post is on topic.

 

From a scientific background, space is a vacuum, and a continuum of also time.

It's a physical sheet, where particles spontaneously bubble. This is a quantum aether, so the aether is actually needed in physics, and hasn't been disproven as such, but rather reshaped over the years.