Science Forums 2

[Jeffocal]

Originally Posted by modest

I don't really follow what you're saying there. The speed of light works as a conversion factor between space and time. To switch from space units to time units (or from time to space) you multiply or divide by the speed of light. There is no conversion factor between spatial dimensions, so this once again shows that time is a little different from the other dimensions.

~modest

I guess what I am tiring to say is that Einstein defined (I hope I get this right ) the magnitude of a gravitational potential in terms of a curvature in a surface of a space-time manifold and what we are saying is that it is a result of a curvature in a "surface" of a three-dimensional manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension. I guess I am asking is there a way of mathematically converting the magnitude of a space time curvature to an equivalent spatial distance. If so could that be used to define the magnitude of the distance a "surface" of a three-dimensional space manifold would be displaced with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension to cuase an equivalent space-time curviature.

Then could we substitute that value in for the values that represent the space-time curvature in Einstein's field equations to quantify them in terms of four *spatial* dimensions.

Jeff

PS Would it be possible to use the fact that magnitude of time dilation and length foreshortening are connected in terms of the same space-time curvature to quantify an equivalent one in a four dimensional manifold???