Worm holes

[lucky45]

What is a worm hole and if there is one, can we bend space time. Is the shortest distance between 2 points in time really a straight line (or line of sight) or can we bend space ( which is made of something wether it be a vaccume or particals of matter?

[toastywombel]

What is a worm hole and if there is one, can we bend space time. Is the shortest distance between 2 points in time really a straight line (or line of sight) or can we bend space ( which is made of something wether it be a vaccume or particals of matter?

 

Worm hole- In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is, fundamentally, a 'shortcut' through space and time. For a simple analogy, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional (2-D) surface (see illustration, right). Now, if we 'fold' this surface along a (non-existant) 3rd dimension, it allows us to picture a wormhole "bridge". Please note, though, that this image is merely a visualization, to allow the limited human brain to grasp an essentially unimaginable structure existing in 4 or more dimensions.

 

The above is a section of the wikipedia article for wormholes found here.

 

Geometrically the shortest distance between two points is always a straight line. In space this would depend on the mass of the two points, however. If the two points are mass less than the shortest distance would be a straight line. However, if one or both of the points have mass the line would not be exactly straight.

 

Can we bend space time? You are doing it right now! According to relativity mass bends space time, much like a ball on top of a sheet that is held taught. You might notice that the ball creates a bend in the sheet. This is comparable to how mass bends space-time. Reference to the picture below.

 

Here are some more links on the bending of space time that you might find interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/apr/15/spaceexploration.universe

 

As far as a way we can bend space time and control it to our liking, it seems unlikely at this time.

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All of space is filled with virtual particles. Tiny particles and anti-particles are phasing in and out of existence in what many thought to previously be just empty space between electrons and their respective nuclei. They are really wave packets of possible particle positions. This is one of the concepts behind Hawking Radiation.

 

"In physics, a virtual particle is a particle that exists for a limited time and space, introducing uncertainty in their energy and momentum due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. (Indeed, because energy and momentum in quantum mechanics are time and space derivative operators, then due to Fourier transforms their spans are inversely proportional to time duration and position spans, respectively)."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_particle

 

Hope I helped answer some questions.

[Tau Meson]

I've read in countless popular science books and magazines that wormholes require negative mass to maintain, and that even then it may not be possible to travel through them because any mass, even a subatomic particle, would cause it to collapse before it can get through. So I don't know if they can exist naturally, or for any significant amount of time.

 

As for bending, yes, we are already bending space right now, since any mass can do that. But to produce any significant curvature one would at least has to have the mass of a star. The shortest path that light can travel through in curved space is known as a geodesic, which is the minimum length around a curve.

[lucky45]

We all know that anti matter exists on Star Trek, Do you think anti matter would have everything matter has as we know,but in reverse In other words, to get energy from anti matter,wouldent matter have to colapse on it self to the point where it might become anti matter? hell I dont know. Thankyou

[Tau Meson]

Antimatter has positive mass though, the only thing different about it is it's charge. What I'm talking about is matter with negative mass, better known as exotic matter.

 

And, antimatter does exist in real life, not just in star trek. It's existence was postulated by Dirac and confirmed in the 1930's.

[lucky45]

I believe the same thing you do, Kinda like going in one direction and going in the opposits direction

[3rdGradeSci]

They repel?

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They repel?

[Moontanman]

They repel?

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No, matter and antimatter would not repel each other according to current theories.