a rip in space?

[YT2095]

how far CAN space be Curved before it tears or rips?

 

using the rubber sheet and heavy object in the middle of it analogy (like a bowling ball in the middle of a large trampoline).

that sheet can only take SO much mass before one of 2 things happen,

 

1, the sheet rips under the weight (mass) the mass drops and the sheet returns to normal position again with a tear in it.

 

2, the sheet Doesn`t Rip, but it`s "anchors" do.

 

so what Really happens in the Real "world"?

 

a mass so great and dense that not even Light can escape, my guess is that this mass isn`t all THAT great if it can`t rip space.

[Klaynos]

(Without saying whether I think it can or not, completely impartial question)

 

What makes you think space can rip?

[YT2095]

purely by the logical extension of the analogy frequently used.

[Klaynos]

Analogies are dangerous things.

 

I know little GR and my astrophysics is not great.

 

BUT as far as I know there are some things which suggest that wormholes could be this, but my knowledge is sketchy and I'm not sure how much of this is stuff that people have told me that is BS

[YT2095]

so the bowling ball drops through, space pops back into normal position again with a rip in it, the Mass, lord knows where that goes but presumably the Other side of the sheet (Space).

 

if this happens twice in space, you have 2 holes in 2 different parts, and a NON Space area as well as a Space area connecting the 2.

 

the betting is that the NON space area is faster to traverse?

[Farsight]

The bowling ball analogy is wrong. Because it uses gravity to explain gravity. It's better to think in terms of gravitational time dilation. If the gravity keeps on increasing, the time dilation becomes total. In terms of analogy, the space doesn't rip. It freezes solid. That's why black holes used to be called "Frozen Stars". Check them out via google. Here's a link selected at random:

 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00012DEF-46AA-1F04-BA6A80A84189EEDF

[Klaynos]

The bowling ball analogy is wrong. Because it uses gravity to explain gravity. It's better to think in terms of gravitational time dilation. If the gravity keeps on increasing, the time dilation becomes total. In terms of analogy, the space doesn't rip. It freezes solid. That's why black holes used to be called "Frozen Stars". Check them out via google. Here's a link selected at random:

 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00012DEF-46AA-1F04-BA6A80A84189EEDF

 

Interesting, a few years old now. One of the problems with this area is that there are alot of theories and ideas around...

[Edtharan]

using the rubber sheet and heavy object in the middle of it analogy (like a bowling ball in the middle of a large trampoline).

Remember this is an analogy. Space is not like a trampoline.

 

When scientists talk about space being "curved", they are not meaning it in the literal sense of a a trampoline.

 

What they mean is that if you draw a 3D line through that region of space, then it will appear curved and appear to violate Euclidean geometry.

 

However, if you work out what kind of shape would actually allow that line to still be straight, then it requires a 4D universe that is curved. The shape of that curve (if the line was in 2D and the space was curved in 3D) would be similar to that of a bowling ball on a trampoline.

 

Space is not "Stretched" like the bowling ball example, but it is instead "Rotated". And because it is not being stretched, it can not be ripped like the trampoline.

[ajb]

To my knowledge, general relativity does not "easily" allow for a topological change of space-time. By this I mean cut, puncture, twist or glue space-time. Having a Lorentzian metric puts some restrictions on the topology and as such any topological change must be consistent with that. This is is what makes it difficult.

 

In the context of quantum gravity, it is suggest that not only do we need to consider fluctuations in the geometry, but also topology. Because of this you will find that most papers about space-time topological change will be in quantum gravity.

 

see http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9406053, for references.