If not defined as a tautology, such as "an empty void"?

An empty void would not contain virtual particles, magnetic fields, and gravitational fields.

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When I am done here I think I will go create something from metal.

I prefer: Space, the big area between things of interest. :wink:

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Now while I might be amused by Cthulhians, I don't necessarily distrust them to carry out the functions of government. -- JayUtah

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Oh, keep up, please.
"Space, the final frontier"!
John

Space is coordinate system.

Martin

Uh, no. Space is defined by a coordinate system. There is more than one. They are arbitrary. We invented them. They are not a property of space, merely a mathematical convienience.

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When I am done here I think I will go create something from metal.

What is space, that thou art mindful of it? ops:

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

If we invented coordinate systems, and space is defined by coordinate system, then we invented space also, no?

But you are right, it is better to say equivalence class of coordinate systems.

Martin

Inductive logic invalid.

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When I am done here I think I will go create something from metal.

I think Evan's site comes as close to any answer as I was looking for, but even so, it just seems to say that space would have to be some sort of inverse to time, and doesn't explain very much. (i.e, Define time without referencing space). Space being where things happen, and a certain amount of space containing a certain amount of potentional enregy (ten to the 120 power less than theory would call for).

Don't expect any more of an answer than what that site gives. We simply don't know. There are many unanswered questions and they may well remain unanswered.

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When I am done here I think I will go create something from metal.

Thanks, Evan. I was afraid that was the answer.

It seems to me, that in the GR era, space can be dropped as a term altogether, and replaced with units of temporal separation. Right? Now that we know that distance can be expressed in terms of time, via C, space just seems like a convenient notation to avoid calculating with extremely small units of time.

And I’ve always thought that time resembled a velocity more than a dimension—a velocity that changes between differing reference points. Time is a 'rate,' like velocity. On Earth, time passes at a different rate than in space, it seems like we’re –moving through time- with a different ‘velocity’ than a position in space. Man, I’m really confused now #-o

Perhaps my question should have been: What is spacetime?

Same thing, same incomplete answers.

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When I am done here I think I will go create something from metal.

dose space ever end?vist my post at http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=18142

space is a sea of virtual particles : p

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<3

i would say space is the area inhabited by single molecules and particles...when they are living together with lots of their friends they make objects and are IN space rather than ARE space...not a serious answer, but maybe something along those lines...

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None to speak of

Then what's a sea of virtual particles? 8-[

ya im just as lost as scourge what the flip is a sea of virtual particals?

It's a cupboard without any food in it. :wink:

Space is the volume we inhabit, the playing field for which interactions of energy takes place, governing these proceses...

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Feynman
>~~~~<
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.

Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.

For scourge and Metal_dragon35. Virtual particles - Quantum Mechanics allows a particle and an anti-paricle to pop into existience, in the vacuum, as long as they both self-annihilate quickly enough to conserve matter and energy. These events are called Vacuum Fluctuations. Some people, such as Paul Davies, would even have Big Bang originate in a particularly large vacuum fluctuation such as this. If it were energetic enough, coupled with Inflation, only a small amount of matter would be requred (along with a mechanism which allows for an excess of matter over anti-matter, and still zero sums, so that the Conservation of Matter and Energy is not violated)