The Fabric of Space

[jakeyboi]

Hi

Just a quick question on the fabric of space.

I understand how the fabric of space works ie, how mass streches the fabric of space and time etc.

What im having trouble with is that the fabric of space is allways illustrated as flat. But space isnt flat there are galaxys/star etc in all directions.

Would it not look more like a 3d grid (or rubiks cube) where matter bends the fabric of space towards itself in all directions??

am i missing the point? can somebody please explain??

jake

 

[nimbus]

The flat representation makes it a more fool proof illustration of the concept. Everyone can readily relate to gravity's effect on a flat surface deformed in the third dimension - e.g. orbital dynamics (gravity at planetary scales in vacuum) represented by its "2D" analog: the classic ball bearing circling a syphon-shaped drain.

More accurate Rubik's illustration looks pretty messy because you have to represent not just a single plane, a single slice of our real 3D universe, but all slices at once. It's been used, though.

 

[jakeyboi]

Thanks so i am picturing correctly then.

 

[normalthinker]

Visualising the nature of space-time curvature in 3D is quite tricky. "Flat" space is flat in 3 dimensions. To "see" it curved, you would need to able to visualise in 4 dimensions. Fortunately, the Universe allows to perceive this curving indirectly: gravity.