The Universe is a vast place, full of many known & unknown mysteries that are being explored since many generations. It can surely be said that the coming generations will be able to make certain breakthroughs which would shake the very spirit of the most fundamental subject responsible for dealing with space events i.e. Physics. The topic that we are going to talk today is one such mystery. Yup, it is space. Now, before we get further into our topic today, let us first get familiarized into its basics that has been theorized by many physicists since the generations.
WHAT IS SPACE?
Well, to be frank the definition of space has changed over the decades due to generalization of new theories that have been able to describe its phenomena more accurately. What space was to the physicists in 17th or 18th century is completely different to those in the 20th century and it may become different to those in the 25th or 30th century. Let's talk about few scientists or physicists who contributed alarming theories to shape up the very definition of space and hence describe its events.
Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most prominent physicists in the 17th century that contributed most to the advancement of Physics.
He is well known for his Newtonian mechanics that paved the way for modern physics. According to him, “Space is nothing but an abstraction we use to compare different arrangement of the bodies constituting the plenum”. He and most of his contemporaries believed that Space and Time (which is as mysterious as space itself) are both independent quantities. With the appliance of “Newtonian laws” on space studies many calculations were made which were the pioneer works of that century.
“But not all things stay forever”- this old age saying is truly true in case of space study. In the early 20th century, a paper written by Sir Albert Einstein, changed the concept of Newtonian physics. The ideas and concepts given by Einstein was like a hammer blow to the ongoing Newtonian Physics and the contemporary physicists.
Through his concepts Einstein stated that Space and Time are not separate quantities, rather they are very much linked together. He called this linked Space and Time concept as- “Space-Time" complex. According to him, Space-Time is actually a fabric of space and time that governs the motion of moving bodies. His concept can be explained in simple terms as-
Suppose Space-Time fabric is like a taut rubber sheet that has initially no objects in it. In this situation, if we throw something (suppose a small marble) it will go on and on without stopping (Newton’s first law of motion states that any object will be in motion or rest unless an external force is applied on it). Now imagine that there is a large ball of a certain mass is at the center of the rubber sheet. Clearly, there will be a curvature on the sheet whose origin is at the center. If we throw the same marble again, we will see that the marble instead of going through is now revolving across the larger ball of certain mass. Now, I know what are you all thinking. And yes, this is about GRAVITY. But let's not deviate from Space and march onto GRAVITY. We will talk about it in my next post.
Coming back onto Space, the next remarkable concept on space was given by Hermann Minkowski.
He stated that the so-called Space and Time are actually a part of a Single FOUR DIMENSIONAL Space-Time fabric. Although, Einstein initially dismissed Minkowski’s 4-Dimensional interpretation of his theory as “Superfluous Learnedness”, he changed his mind rather quickly.
PRESENT SITUATION
Now, with the advent of time, there had been and will be formation of many new theories and correction of old ones that have changed our concept on space over the decades and have made us able to understand space to a greater degree. We can now easily send astronauts, robots, test drones etc. To unknown planetary bodies to investigate those bodies thoroughly.
What is the present challenge?
Even though we have developed so much since the 17th century, the Space physicists and mathematicians believe that our exploration of space so far, may not even comprise 10% of the total space mysteries. There are still many mysteries of space itself that are left to be solved. The scientists, physicists and mathematician are engaged in an engrossed study to clear those mysteries. In coming times, mysteries of Black Holes, White Holes, The Giant Void, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, The Great Attractor etc. will surely be solved even if it takes a few decades.
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