This morning I read the Quantum Day article “Binary White Dwarf System J0651 Emits Gravitational Waves”. It says just as sound waves require a medium such as air to travel through, gravitational waves as predicted by Einstein though as yet undetected would require a medium of travel as well.
That medium would be the so-called fabric of space time.
Quirky Ideas
Though I am not certain such a fabric exists, I feel it is one of the more believable concepts in modern physics. I decided to speculate on the nature of that fabric. Is it absolutely continuous and smooth? Or might it only appear such, as air and water appear smooth, when they are actually made of discrete particles?
Fabric of Space Time – A Flashback
If the material of space time is made up of discrete particles, then it is not such a new concept at all. How is that? If that is the case, it is reminiscent of the scientific concept of the aether (ether). Many famous historical scientists accepted the concept of an ether, including the founder of the wave theory of light, Christian Huygens. Believing similarly was the most famous gravitational scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.
If the aether proves to be equivalent to the fabric of space time, then the old saying is really true, “what goes around comes around.”
Note: You might also enjoy Edge Effects for the Universe?
I think space is the absence of matter and time is simply [the] man made measurement between observable events.
Don’t get me started on dark matter. There seems to be enough of it around.
I love your thinking here, Anthony. As to the first part: it is an interesting thought! After all isn’t that what time, at least in a sense, is?