Re: Would time and space exist if the universe were entirely energy or matter?

Dear Mr. Kelm,

You have the Newtonian coneption of space and time fully internalized. You've apparently been an excellent observer and learner. Conjectures similar to yours led Albert Einstein to formulate his special and general theories of relativity in 1905 and 1915. And almost a century later, there has been no evidence that he was wrong. (There continues to be serious problems reconciling quantum mechanics with relativity and describing the relationship between the microcosmic world of relatavistic physics and the ervery day macroworld of our daily lives where your Newtonian ideas work very nicely.)

Matter and energy are equivalent: e = m c^2. Therefore either of your universes have both matter and energy, not one or the other. Einstein posed a geometrical solution to the problems of space, time and matter. The space-time continuum is a 4 dimensional, orthogonal space where what we call the three spatial dimensions, length, breadth and depth, are interchangeable with the dimension we call time. The presence mass distorts that continuum and we perceive the result as gravity: Light follows a curved path near a massive body, for instance.

Time is simply that which clocks measure, making it a distinctly human phenomenon as per your conjecture. Likewise, space is simply that which rulers measure. Pop over to your library and check out Einstein's popular explanation of relativity published in the '20s and Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time.

Keep thinking and conjecturing- there's plenty of work for good minds still to do! Thank you for your inquiry.

James Steele Foerch
James C. Veen Observatory
Lowell, Michigan
[Moderator's note: there is an interesting article about the nature of time on the New Scientist web site.]