Matters relating to length and duration in physics and transportation
Although there are three dimensions of length and three dimensions of duration, I have pointed out before that we measure movement as either 3D length + 1D time (3+1) or 1D stance + 3D duration (1+3) or 1D stance + 1D time (1+1). The (1+3) perspective is the focus of this post. The measurement of […]
I have a “metric cube” which is a decimeter-sized cube that was used in the 1990s to promote the metric system: It was useful to hold 90mm discs but could also be used as a 3D ruler to measure length in three dimensions at the same time. One could instead use a 1D ruler three
I’m returning to a topic I wrote about here: time in ancient culture and thought. Look at Genesis 1, verse 3: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Now a modern person is thinking spatially
This is a summary of posts (such as here and here) about the application of relativity theory to transportation. This is different from applying theories of physics to other subjects such as economics since here it is real relativity, not some analogy. However, the application is an approximation, but that is the nature of transportation,
What would it mean for space to be one-dimensional? It would be similar to 1D time. Imagine a clock, except that instead of marking durations, it marks distances. It’s like an odometer for a vehicle that moves at a constant speed and never stops. Like this with units of distance (metres, kilometres, miles, etc.):
In a sense every speed is a local conversion of space and time. But a characteristic speed (or modal speed) has the following properties: (1) The speed is relative to a mode of travel or movement. (2) The speed reflects extreme travel conditions in the mode. (3) The speed serves as a general conversion between
Observation changes conceptions. A full conceptual space-time is pre-observation, not a priori in Kant’s terms because it comes after many observations and experiments. It is a categorical induction: a conceptional scheme that makes observational sense and forms the basis for deduction. That is how science operates. With a conception of space-time in hand, one may
I Multiple dimensions of time are easier to see if we look at transportation. Consider the time table of a railway or subway system. Directions are typically shown by the station at the end of each line. The time table lists arrivals and departures – events in space and time. A railway station some distance
I’ve written about terminology and used new terms before, for example, Movement and dimensions. I want to take another look at coining new terms needed for studying movement and the symmetry of space and time. In what follows, the terms pace, lenticity and relentation have new senses. Consider these parallel terms, defined with respect to
The Lorentz transformation for velocities in all directions is known from the special relativity theory. This may be generalized to lenticities in all directions. Begin with the definition of the vector β from a previous post: β = v/c = k/v if |v| < |c|, with velocity v and speed of light c, v/k =
