Question: what exactly is the time space continuum?

  1. The theory of special relativity, developed by Einstein in 1905, has a basic assumption that the observed speed of light is the same for anyone, even if they are moving already. This is different to how relative velocity works in classical physics (if you throw a ball forward at 50 km/h when you are running forward at 10 km/h, then someone who isn’t moving will see the ball move at 60 km/h).

    OK, with me so far? Typically, to describe when and where an event happens, we give it a set of four coordinates in time and space (x,y,z,t). But because of the theory of relativity, it turns out that for people moving at different speeds, rather than just seeing things happen at different locations at the same time, they also observe them to happen at *different* times. So in transforming from one description to another, space and time get mixed up. So this is why the coordinates in which we live are called “space-time”, or “space-time continuum”

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  2. I don’t know – thanks Matthew

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  3. Way out there 🙂

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  4. The “time space continuum” is the idea that time and space are intrinsically linked. As Matthew says, because the speed of light is constant, if you have two people at different locations, you will see something happen at different times as well. In other words, when you see something happen depends on where you are.

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