Thoughts on Space, Matter, Energy, and Time
I am not a physicist. I’m a novelist. But I woke up in the middle of the night puzzled by the interrelationship of space, matter, energy, and time. I would appreciate feedback from people qualified to write about such a topic.
Space is a measure of the extent of matter and of matter’s position and distance with respect to other matter. It also is of the shape of matter. Matter occupies space and/or moves through space that is not occupied by other matter.
Space is also the absence of matter. Where there is no matter, there is space. So, space represents the potential for matter to move.
In that sense, there are two forms of space as there are two forms of energy — potential and kinetic.
Kinetic space is space occupied by matter. And potential space is space empty of matter, through which matter can move. Potential space defines the relative position of matter to matter and the potential for movement of matter with respect to other matter.
Matter has mass. The concentration of mass (how much mass in a given space) is its specific gravity. Mass changes the shape of space and hence affects the speed and direction of matter in motion.
Kinetic energy, too, has mass. In theory, like the mass of matter, the mass of kinetic energy changes the shape of space. But at the scale of human existence, the mass of kinetic energy is far less than the mass of matter, so small that’s effect is negligible. At that scale, kinetic energy does not occupy space, and its location with respect to matter and the concentration of its mass cannot be precisely determined. At that scale, energy (whether potential or kinetic) does not occupy space. In other words, energy is not limited in density or extent, does not have specific gravity.
The kinetic energy of matter moving “through” space generates enormous mass as that matter approaches the speed of light. The shape of the matter and the space around it are distorted by the mass of that kinetic energy.
Potential energy resides in the relative mass and motion and spatial relationships of objects to one another. Potential energy does not “occupy” space and does not have mass.
Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. But there is no such limit for potential energy.
Potential space (“empty space”) is a necessary condition for motion, and motion is the conversion potential energy to kinetic energy in matter
Time is the opportunity for motion/action. It is also the interval between actions, as space is the interval between objects.
If there is no motion, there is no time. In other words, if there is no kinetic energy, there is no time.
If there is no space without matter (potential space), there can be no motion and hence there is no time.
There is no limit to the number of actions that can take place simultaneously.
