#Curved space graph plus

You confidently expect them still to be joined together. Well, the bit of space you’re now in, Region B, is still connected to Region A, where you started, because those parts of space were joined together a moment ago during the outward journey. If you travel in a straight line, you can return to your starting point by retracing your steps, illustrating that space does have properties – in this case connectivity between Regions A and B. You know that, if you travel 100km back the way you came, you’ll be back at the drop-off point.

Knowing that you were initially stationary with respect to Earth and using an accelerometer (like the one in a smartphone) to keep track of any changes in speed, you can work out how far you have gone just by measuring the time since you set out.Īfter 100km, you decide to turn around and return to the drop-off point. You find yourself floating in space You activate your spacesuit’s jet pack and head out 100km forwards from the drop-off point. How can space – emptiness, nothingness – have any properties at all?' Let’s start with that question before we tackle the biggie. It would also be fair to ask, 'Never mind it being curved. The correct response to this idea is, 'Huh? What the.?', and that’s a fair question. You are genuinely being asked to believe that the vacuum – the void in between things in space – can itself be bent. You might wonder whether this is some special technical use of the word ‘curved’, or just a metaphor to suggest it’s like a curved thing.

#Curved space graph plus

Credit: vchal / iStock / Getty Images Plus Spacetime is curved by the mass of objects like the Sun and Earth.