What do they mean when they say space time is curved? I keep hearing a lot of talk about Space Time being the 4th dimension, and no matter how many trampoline examples I see, I just don’t get it.
In: Physics
The problem is you are not evolved to picture it. All we can do is show you analogies, or we can tell you the experience, but you do not have the grey matter evolved to model it.
Imagine traveling in a perfectly straight line, one where there is no curve, but you end up where you started. The line is straight, the space it is in is curved.
Imagine drawing a triangle, and measuring the three angles, and they end up adding to a number that is slightly different than 180, but the straightest ruler can find nothing but straight sides.
Imagine it being impossible to make two straight parallel lines, ever. If you move along using a spacer to keep them the same distance apart, when you look they clearly curve.
See? Even knowing the consequences you can’t picture it, because your brain is evolved and programmed by this reality, to model a flat spacetime. You just don’t have the tool. All you can do is resolve the consequences, basically use math to describe it.
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