As time it turns the river flows
a destined dawn approaches
-Dante Carmelo Cullari
Poets speak of time as flowing like a river winding past trees, over waterfalls, merging with the ocean. Maybe, after all, this may not be so wrong, partly anyway. I find myself, at rare times lying awake late in the night, or early in the morning alone with my thoughts. And just what is it that occupies my sleepless mind when Morpheus abandons me in the dark? Time. Not that red faced tormentor flashing its red eyes at me, reminding me of the hour of the evening that I lay there sleepless. It is Time that consumes my time, trying with my mechanically inclined mind to ferret out times enigma. And as time, it turns, a destined dawn approaches. Morpheus, your cruel abandonment is the wellspring of many a thoughts.
I really do contemplate such things late on sleepless nights and contemplate them deeply. I contemplate the nature of the universe and questions such as; What is time? How does gravity work? What is the relationship between gravity and mater? Why does time slow in a gravitational field or when traveling at high rates of speed? As I mentioned earlier, I approach these questions with a mechanical inclination. I can construct, deconstruct, design and see in my mind’s eye any mechanical device and how it can be manipulated. Tonight was one of those nights. Physics is good at telling us what time is not, but not what time is. That’s probably because we have such a tenuous grasp on what the true structure of the universe is. CERN may be a big step in getting a firmer grip on the mater, pun not intended.
The question of time intrigues everyone capable of having a concept of time, however, the nature of time escapes us at the moment. It is the relationship between time, gravity and velocity that sparked tonight’s stream of sleepless thought. Gravity, yet another in the basic or fundamental forces of this universe, like fire to a cave man is not yet fully understood. As cavemen we understood how to create fire and that it produces heat. We knew how to utilize fire for our benefit and for our survival. Too, we know only this much about gravity. But ultimately gravity does not act as the models predict. The current (and now twenty something year old) explanation that the gravity we experience is actually a well created in space by mass. Well, that never satisfied me because it neglected to account for the effect mass has on space in order to create that well in the first place.
What has tonight’s revelation wrought you may be asking by now (though you probably don’t think in those exact words)? Time may not be analogous to a river, but space is, or at least it is analogous to a lake. As such, gravity can be thought of as drag and not a force in itself. Consider a boat in the water. You are sitting in that boat with your hand in the water. As long as the boat is not moving, your hand feels no force on it. Once the boat begins to move you begin to feel a force against your hand. This force that you hand is experiencing is called drag. In the description of gravity as being a well in space, this implies that space is static. I contend that space, in a gravity well is not static, space is constantly being sucked into the mass like water flowing down a drain. Like the drag against your hand while in the boat, if you placed your hand in a moving river, your hand again experiences drag. Gravity is not a force, gravity is drag. Therefore, standing on a planet is like standing in a river near a waterfall, or like traveling through space. The faster you travel, the more drag space exerts on you, i.e. the more mass you appear to have. While stand on a heavier planet than Earth, the more space flows that into the mass, meaning more drag, the heavier appear you feel on that planet.
Primary question: If space is flowing into mass, then why?
Is mater analogous to a flame? A flame requires oxygen in order to exist. Is space the oxygen for the production of mater? A flame also requires fuel, so what would be analogous to that fuel for mater? A flame also recombines the constituents into a byproduct. What would the byproduct of mater creation be?
Ultimate question: What is time?
Well it is time for me to end this inquire and try to go back to sleep. Morpheus is back and it is 3:00 am. There is more, but I am finally sleepy again and am tired from all of this thinking.
Note:
Excerpts taken from the poem; The River Flows, by Dante Carmelo Cullari. As I did not ask, so here is a link to his work. Please read him and enjoy, as I did.
http://beatplay.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/the-river-flows-poem-by-dante-carmelo-cullari/