What is the space time continuum and can we survive in it?
410204
The space-time continuum is the universe in four dimensions. And considering that I'm alive, then yes, we can survive in it.
830585
Y'know, I've been trying to get a handle on that for a long time, but so far I understand it to mean that post-Einstein, once you  include time as a fourth axis to the 3 spatial ones, the universe makes sense in terms of our physical laws working everywhere and everytime.  That is a neccessity of a good physical law - it must always work no matter where in the universe you test it or how fast you're travelling.  In other words, translations and rotations of objects or fields or whatever must have no effect on the validity of the law.  If you do not include time as an axis perpendicular to the 3 spatial ones (mathematically, of couse), what we predict won't agree with what we see, especially in such cases as high relative velocities (as in approacing the speed of light), and strong gravitational fields.  Amoung the oddest result of this view is that, in truth, all time actually exists simultaneously, and there is some not-quite-understood mechanism that only lets us see one instant at a time.\n\nAnyway, to answer your question, "How does spacetime work?", the answer is, much better than space or time alone and separate.  They are, in fact, as inseparable as the pair of poles of a magnet.\n\nThis all might be not quite accurate, especially since I'm so far just an "armchair physicist" with no formal education in the area, (tho I'm looking forward to taking physics, including the higher levels, if I can ever get thru these friggin' calculus classes).  Anybody else have something to contribute or set me straight on??
725282
Space and time aren't the same thing, they just form one continuum. Not that you're particularly interested in the actual answer mind.
808556
Two views on the space and time.\n1.\n There are an independent space and independent time:\nWe notice it on our planet - Earth.\nIt is a fhree - dimensional space.\n2.\nThere is simultaneous union of space and time:\nIt is negative four-dimensional (Minkowski) space.\nHerman Minkowski :\n“ Henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, \nare doomed to fade away into mere shadows,\n and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality.”\nQuestion.\nWhat  is the “a kind of union of the two “?\nThe answer.\nIt is Vacuum. T=0K.\n=========================\nhttp://www.socratus.com
1009023
The universe that we live in has only three spatial dimensions. We are limited to length, width, and height, and we can only travel along three perpendicular paths. This page attempts to explain the properties of a hypothetical universe with a spatial fourth dimension. While people generally call time the 4th dimension in the universe we live in, time will be the 5th dimension in my hypothetical universe. \n\nMany fascinating possibilities exist when a spatial fourth dimension is present. Several types of wheels are possible, very complex machines can be built, and many more shapes are possible. Objects can pass by each other more easily, but they are harder to break into multiple pieces. Energy reduces much faster with distance than in the 3rd dimension, so both light and sound are weaker. Much more things can be compacted into a small space, but its much easier to get lost. In this page, I will explore these and many other interesting properties of the fourth dimension.
1043962
No.  It is not possible to compress three dimensions of time into one.  It is also not possible to travel back in time, as that has already occurred.  However, according to Albert Einstein, the theory of relativity and the Einstein-Rosenbridge theory, it is possible to travel forward in time, relative to people on earth.  It is very complicated, but involves traveling beyond the speed of light (currently not possible) and near black holes (also not possible).  So theories exist on this subject but are unproven.
786756
I think space is the container for the matter which makes up everything.  I also think there is more than one container which could potentially be parallel dimensions or other worlds with differenet physical rules.  I think the path to these other worlds lies in what is known as a black hole.  They say the universe is infinite so maybe there are an infinite number of containers which would mean they would never run out and have always existed.  Also, time may not me restriced to how we view it.  Our lives may be just a blink to other worlds or almost infinite to others.  There is no possible way to explain it definately, it is all speculation and beliefs.  One way to expalin it is with religion, but what is religion?  A belief in a greater being with absolute control? Or the belief that the "big bang" theory exists?  They are one in the same a belief nothing more.
255954
I will take a shot at it.\n\nWe are all very familiar with 3 dimensional space, up down, left right, forward backward. To describe the location of an object in space we have to use those three dimensions. BUT. Nothing is actually fixed in space. Everything is moving. So in order to describe the location of an object in space you must also describe at what time that object was at that location or will be at that location. That is why time is called the 4th dimension. \n\nNow here is the really bizaar part. Some scientists think there are more than 4 dimensions. Some propose 10 dimensions and some 26 dimensions. It is called string theory and it is all over my head.
1121840
Time cannot exist without space.\nTime is something man uses to measure change.\nFor change to take place, there must be somewhere for the change to happen.\nWe need space (no pun intended) for something to exist and to happen.\nSpace is where all things exist.\nWithour space, there would be nothing, and there would be no change, resulting in no time.
334137
the universe is finite yet has no boundaries. it may be something like the two dimensional surface of a sphere.  nothing inside or outside the sphere exists for the two dimensional surface.  nothing exists outside the universe in this model.
85344
Based on the relativity theory, there are many studies that are taking place to look into the possibility of traversing the time-space continuum.  As far as I know, we're not quite there yet.  But if and when we are, we should be able to tap into the theoritical "worm-holes" to go into different points in space without having to exume too much time.
674188
well, spacetime does not seem to end, and nothing is "holding up" spacetime.\n\nthe universe is not infinite. the universe is finite yet has no edge and no center. it may be something like the two dimensional surface of a sphere. nothing inside or outside the sphere exists for the two dimensional surface.\n\nalso, i have something for you to think about. the radius of observable universe is about 46 billion lightyears, yet the universe is 13.7 billion years old.
862196
From our perception here on earth, it would appear to end at where space and time begins.  Remember that because the speed of light is finite, you can look at a galaxy that's 10 billion light-years away and you'll actually see it AS IT WAS 10 billion years ago....so theoretically, you can look back to the beginning of time itself.  You can't see that far away and perceive anything as it is NOW.  So the CURRENT limits are quite unknown...if there are indeed any.
560353
Not we as humans, but scientists are working on the technology to send atoms back in time.  The logic to behind this makes no sense.  Here's part of an article I read once on the website Space.com:\n\nTaught in physics classes the world over, Albert Einsteins theory of special relativity holds that no object or information can move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, or 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second. But NECs Lijun Wang says he created an experiment in which a light beam raced through a gas-filled chamber so quickly, it exceeded the speed of light by a factor of 300. Whats more, the light pulse appears to have left the confines of the chamber before it even entered a seemingly impossible occurrence according to theories of causality, which predict that causes must always precede their effects.\n\nSo, this possibly hints that the light is going back in time, but if this is what it means it violates laws of causality and sends quantum physics into disrepair.  \n\nTraveling to the past is impossible given our current views of the universe and physics.  However, if the universe isn't a universe, but rather a multiverse of infinite parallel universes we could jump to another universe that exists simulatneously at an earlier time.  This would not violate causality or the grandfather paradox (which is that if you could go back in time you could kill your grandfather  which would mean you would never be born to kill your grandfather).  YOu could kill your grandfather in another universe and you would never exist in that universe, but you would still exist because in your universe your grandfather had never died.
264754
Think of the universe as a giant bubble. Outside the bubble is nothing. nothing exists. no space. no time. Even though there is an edge to the universe, you cant reach it. If you started at the earth and went in a straight line. you would eventually come back to the earth. Also, we are not the only universe. there are other bubles. too. they are in the same nothing as ours. But you could not travel to other universes.
79119
Our universe has 4 dimensions of space-time, and the domain of these domains is finite.  However, the expansion of that is in a larger dimensional space--meaning more than our four dimensions, with higher dimensions orthogonal to our four.\n\nThink of the 2-D surface of a balloon.  If you were a 2-D being on the surface on that balloon, you'd have no concept of the 3-D space inside and outside the balloon--your entire existence wouldbe contained on that 2-D surface.  But if the balloon inflated, you 2-D reality would grow in the context of the larger 3-D reality which was beyond you.
3809
The normal answer, and the one which all conventional theories of physics are based on is that time is modelled as a real number.  In relativity theory intervals of time are defined as a kind of generalised distance between two points in a 4-dimensional geometry.  This 4-dimensional geometry (aka space-time) is defined using real numbers, resulting in distances always being real numbers, and so there ends up being no smallest distance.\n\nQuantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics have the same continuum underlying space and time, but the complication is that whilst time is continuous it is not possible to _measure_ time scales less than a certain amount.  But still, the equations of the theory are still written in terms of differentIAL (c.f. difference) equations and are thus fundamentally continuous.\n\nThe impossibility of measuring suficiently small time scales has led _some_ theorists to consider the possibility that spacetime is actually a lattice of discrete points, thus making space and time fundamentally quantised.  It has the advantage that if you make the additional assumption that the overall size of the universe is finite then integrals over the whole of space (which might not converge) end up being just finite sums, which always converge.  Still, the theory has a long way to go simply to catch up with present-day theories, and is certainly not mainstream theoretical physics.