Straight Lines and Curves in Physics

When we talk about time in physics, it’s always about measured time. To talk about time in any other way is not physics. It doesn’t belong to the realm of this discipline.

Physical clocks

This means that all discussions about time have to involve a physical clock of some kind. To do otherwise would be to invoke God’s clock, which would bring us into the realm of religion and metaphysics.

Time and its relation to the speed of light

An important aspect of any clock is the way it involves photons or neutrinos in its operations.

This ties time to the constant c, the speed of light, in such a way that c cannot in any way change from its measured value. The constant c and physical time are two sides of the same phenomenon. Manifest in the way energy propagates through inertial matter.

Inertial matter is made up of protons and electrons. Both hollow and balloon-like with plenty of holes to let the aether in and out. So, they have curved surfaces that vary in size depending on the composition of the aether.

Energy propagates along curved surfaces

This means that energy propagates along curved surfaces when communicated between particles.

So, there’s something curved about time. While this can be ignored completely at the macro level, it cannot be completely ignored when dealing with subatomic particles.

In contrast to time, which has a curved aspect to it, space is completely flat.

Time is curved, but space is flat

All the three dimensions of space are straight lines.

This means that calculations involving both distance and time at the subatomic will encounter a tiny mismatch due to the difference of geometries involved.

With this in mind, this YouTube presentation by Alexander Unzicker on the constants c and h comes to mind. It appears that Unzicker has reached a similar conclusion about the nature of space and time. Namely that one is a curve and the other is flat.

(Many thanks to Freddie Thornton for having brought the work of Alexander Unzicker to my attention.)