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Syadvada and Relativity 363
same place had no objective meaning (that is, independent of space reference). But the relativity had no role in building up the theory. One spoke of points of space, as of instants of time, as if they were absolute realities. It was not observed that the true element of the space-time specification was the event specified by the four numbers X1, X2, X3, t. The conception of same thing happening was always that of a four-dimentional continuum but the recognition of this was obscured by the absolute character of the pre-relativity time. Upon giving up the hypothesis of the character of time, particularly that of simultaneity, the four dimensionality of the time-space concept was immediately recognised.' In other words, in old fashioned physics, the event or events were defined in the three demensional Euclidean continuum, i.e. were determined by assigning three co-ordinates. It is necessary to understand the meaning of the word 'continuum' in order to grasp properly Einstein's picture of the Universe as a four dimensional space-time continuum. A continuum is something that is continuous. A ruler which is divided into inches and fractions scaled down to 1/16 of an inch is a one-dimenstional space continuum. Theoretically, the interval separating any two points may still be further divided into an infinite number of arbitrarily small steps. We can take the surface of the sea as the illustration of a two-dimensional continuum. Latitude and longitude are the co-ordinate points which a sailor has to take into consideration to fix his position in his two-dimensional continuum, but an air- plane pilot to guide his plane successfully has to take into consideration his height above the ground besides longitude and latitude. The continuum of an air-plane pilot constitutes space as perceived by us, i.e., the space of our world is a threedimensional continuum. In order to describe any physical event involving motion, we have not only to indicate its position in space but also to state how position changes in time. The flight of an air-plane can be pictured in a four-dimensional space-time continuum. So time is the fourth dimension. In any objective description of the universe the time dimension can no more be detached from the space dimension, though in our minds we tend to separate these dimensions the separation is purely subjective. The world is space-time continuum. All measurements of time-seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. are really measurements in space relative to the sun, moon and stars; and conversely 10. Einstein: 'Meaning of Relativity', pp. 30-31.
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| SR No. | 002012 |
| Book Title | Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati |
| Publication Year | 1996 |
| Total Pages | 400 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Philosophy, Religion, & Nyay |
| File Size | 23 MB |