What is space made of?

[Crunchy Cat]

It simply is infantile. Nothing emotional on my part. If I say a tabletop is nothing but marble & you say that's incorrect because it can be measured, it's infantile absurdity.

The analogy made no sense.

By definition, a vacuum is nothing.

It's not my knowledge that's the problem. I know the definition of a vacuum. Do you?


By definition, a vacuum is nothing. Or more clearly, an area with nothing in it.

Your response means that you didn't read the link or understand it. I can't do the work for you or comprehend for you. It's your problem now.

Cosmology and QM do not show that.

I can show you differently, but based on your previous history would it be worth it for me to do so? Would you read it? Would you understand it?

As long as anything exists, there is space & time.

That's quite a sweeping statement. The time part is incorrect right off the bat. Photons move through space and not time and their existence is therefore not dependent on time. You might be right about space but not in the way you think. Our universe is very likely construct floating around in something different. That something would qualify as space (ex. calibi yao space); however, it wouldn't the the space that we experience.

IF Big Bang is correct, space & time existed before it.

That's not quite an accurate statement. If the "Big Bang" theory or any number of its drastically improved acounterparts are correct then it means something existed before the event. What that something is changes significantly from theory to theory.

Space has no components. Space is the 3D area in which everything exists. There are no components to it.

Dimensions are components (for example). Many theories of reality show space being broken down even further.

Gee, thanks for the tip on studying M-thoery. I'll reciprocate. You'll understand Cosmology, QM & M-theory better once you understand some simple definitions such as space, vacuum & nothing.

Definitions change in science as knowledge changes. Your definitions of space and vaccum are antequated (almost dark-age). I gave you a link to help you get up to speed but it either wasn't read or understood (i.e. I can't help you there).

Regarding *nothing*, by definition *nothing* is an absence of anything / everything. No dimensions, no energy, no laws of physics. While the word has utility in descibing absences of particular quantities (ex. there is *nothing* in my glass where *something* would be constrained to liquids), it doesn't actually exist as a real entity.

Another tip : M-theory has yet to be proven.

No kidding.

Galaxy GROUPS seem to be moving faster than light. Nothing can travel faster than light.

That's incorrect. Matter cannot move at light speed or faster.

We can't handle this so we must come up with something. Ah ha! Let's pretend space is a material thing which can move! Yeah, that's the ticket!

Alpha's response is quite relevant here.

Trouble is, other than thinking space is a material thing, if nothing can travel faster than light, this space thingy cannot travel faster than light any more than galaxy GROUPS can.

The statement "nothing can move faster than the speed of light" is quite incorrect. Light (for example) can move faster than the speed of light (which is a proven fact). A correct statement would be entities with MASS cannot move AT or FASTER than the speed of light. Dimensions don't have mass which is why the restriction doesn't apply to them (ex. universal expansion outpaces the speed of light). Physical relationships don't have mass (ex. two entangled particles affect each other immediately regardless of distance in inches or light years).

 

[thinking]

look space , strickly speaking , isn't made of anything

what space is , is a consequence of energy/matter

and energy/matter is a consequence of space

they all go hand and hand , there is NO particular sequence of order here, by the way

 

[LocusPoint]

What is space?

Space is the canvas on which the universe is painted.

It is not the stuff in it but rather is something for which most of us cannot even conceive of. Even the quantum boys can't agree but Einstein proved that space could be warped and, if this is so, we all must admit that you can't warp nothing.

But space is not just found in the emptiness between the stars. That's only the macro view. Space is also the stuff that completes atoms. An atom is composed of some protons and neutrons that comprise the nucleus, and some electrons orbiting (floating is a cloud) a considerable distance from the nucleus. The rest of the atom, the most significant part of the atom by volumn, is space. So, in the micro view, matter, like the universe, itself, is also mostly space.

Now, here's the hardest pill to swallow. There is only one space. But then for a painting, no matter how elaborate, there is only one canvas.

:m:

 

[LifeinTechnicolor]

Space is made of space and ice...

 

[thinking]

Space is the canvas on which the universe is painted.

ah.. no

space is that which allows energy/matter to exist

It is not the stuff in it but rather is something for which most of us cannot even conceive of.

actually space has alot in it

there is very little , if any " empty space "

Even the quantum boys can't agree but Einstein proved that space could be warped and, if this is so, we all must admit that you can't warp nothing.

you can't warp space , in and of its self

if space has any substance associated with it , then bring me a block of space

But space is not just found in the emptiness between the stars. That's only the macro view. Space is also the stuff that completes atoms. An atom is composed of some protons and neutrons that comprise the nucleus, and some electrons orbiting (floating is a cloud) a considerable distance from the nucleus. The rest of the atom, the most significant part of the atom by volumn, is space. So, in the micro view, matter, like the universe, itself, is also mostly space.

I suspect though there is more going on in the space between the proton and the electron than meets the intellect

Now, here's the hardest pill to swallow. There is only one space. But then for a painting, no matter how elaborate, there is only one canvas.

:m:

and space has far more depth

 

[thinking]

space is more of a consequence of the conseuqence of energy and matter

inotherwords

space , energy/matter came into being at the same moment

and this moment is infinite in its existence

 

[StrangerInAStrangeLand]

-=-

Have you yet not had enough time to provide your new improved definitions of space, nothing & vacuum???

 

[granpa]

Heres something to think about. what lies between the quanta of space? (assuming that space is quantized). more space?

 

[quantum_wave]

Why don't we assume that energy is quantized and quantized energy occupies all space?

 

[StrangerInAStrangeLand]

-=-

What space is & what occupies space are 2 different things.

 

[thinking]

-=-

What space is & what occupies space are 2 different things.

exactly

and that been my point

3 cubic meters of space is 3 cubic meters space and no matter the energy/matter in that said space will change this

 

[free]

This is a very interesting thread...

The following explanation leaves me satisfied:

“Space,” like “time,” is a relational concept. It does not designate an entity, but a relationship, which exists only within the universe. The universe is not in space any more than it is in time. To be “in a position” means to have a certain relationship to the boundary of some container. E.g., you are in New York: there is a point of the earth’s surface on which you stand—that’s your spatial position: your relation to this point. All it means to say “There is space between two objects” is that they occupy different positions. In this case, you are focusing on two relationships—the relationship of one entity to its container and of another to its container—simultaneously.

The universe, therefore, cannot be anywhere. Can the universe be in Boston? Can it be in the Milky Way? Places are in the universe, not the other way around.

Is the universe then unlimited in size? No. Everything which exists is finite, including the universe. What then, you ask, is outside the universe, if it is finite? This question is invalid. The phrase “outside the universe” has no referent. The universe is everything. “Outside the universe” stands for “that which is where everything isn’t.” There is no such place. There isn’t even nothing “out there”; there is no “out there.”

Leonard Peikoff

source: aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/space.html

As much has been said in this thread, I know. But this seems to fit here.

 

[CheskiChips]

Doritos.

 

[thinking]

Heres something to think about. what lies between the quanta of space? (assuming that space is quantized). more space?

space can be quantized ?

how ?