Which.way.is.up?

So if the earths gravitational field makes us have up and down. What about in outter space? There is no gravity. Also, here on earth we have north, south, east, west ... but there is no such thing in space. Crazy stuff. Think about it.

 

True, there is no north south whatever in space, but if we were ever to utilize space travel for colinization or whatnot, i'm sure directions would be based off of earth or the sun or something like that, giving a distinct up down towards away to the side and all that

 

there is most certainly gravity in outer space... in very empty regions, gravity is very weak, but still existent. there's no north south etc, which is pretty cool... it would mean that directions would probably have to be based off of where you are going/where you came from. but the universe's forces still apply in outer space (electromagnetism, gravity, nuclear, and what the hell is the other one? weak nuclear? i forget my physics from last year)

 

Electromagnetic, Gravity, Stong and Weak nuclear forces

So maybe

nevermind stupid idea

And the gravity is weak enough to count it as zero for all intents and purposes on the human body

however, were we to master faster than light travel, which may or may not be possible, it would wreak havoc on navigation

 

I think it would be based on the X-Y-Z axis

 

Yeah, ok, but where do you place the origin?

 

My best guess would be the sun. Everything else in the solar system moves in relation to everything else except the sun. This may work until a better navagation system comes along.

As far as the placement of x, y, and z axis, place them at arbritary points. We already sort of did with the prime meridian (through Greenwich England) and the international date line. Of course I could be wrong with this last paragraph.

 

I was that stoned once whilst driving in the hills couldn't tell wether I was going up or down. I would look at a hill approaching and would keep swapping from one to the other.

 

This is fascinating indeed. In a class i once took, i learned all sorts of cool shit about space. Like there is no exact center to space, but its been proved that space is expanding. Wierd thing about that is that space is infinate (at least to our current technology) but how can something infinatly big expand into something? Think about it...

 

a class you once took? dont they teach this at school?

 

as for direction, directions are governed by star systems in space, coordinates relative to objects relative to earth

 

I meant that i used to go to college, thus "once took", and now i am no longer in school.

 

^^^ if you went to UW-Madison... then your "once took" was probably more like a "i once stumbled into" sort of senario.. when you goto school in madison there is no time for school

 

Well...

While there is no up and down in space, there is really no up and down on earth either. Just the illusions of up and down created by the human mind working it's way around the concept of gravity.

So, there is no real reason for up and down, especially in space. As long as you have coordinates of other places you can map and catalog anything in a realative manner. Only real problem with that is that galaxies are getting farther and farther from each other and thus everything is shifting and would have to be periodically updated for accurate travel.

Oh, and faster than light travel would wreak havoc on navigation and that's ONLy if it didn't destroy the universe as we know it. Mainly because for matter to travel the actual speed of light it would become infinite in mass and that kind of, well, destroys everything. Then again, I'd guess the real object of faster than light ravel would be getting the object to turn into energy.

Energy happens to be able to travel faster than light and a few years ago some scientists found a way to make a partical of energy, of which kind I cannot remember but it wasn't a light partical, travel at an estimated 5 times the speed of light but they couldn't accurately measure the speed for some reason or another so they estimated it somewhere between 3-7 times the speed of light with 5 being the medium and so that was what it was announced as.

As for up and down, yet again, it doesn't really exsist. It's all just the human's way of comprehending this-a-way and that-a-way.

 

Hell yeah, did you see Playboy named Madison #1 party school in the nation!

 

actually the basis for up and down are very real things - they are the human perception of a gravitational field. humans who have been subject to a gravitational field their whole lives are thus conditioned to liken up with the direction away from the ground, which is indeed 'up' in most cases. it is not an illusion, its just that people generalise the use of the concept because most people are under the influence of gravity their whole lives, living on the surface of earth, and thus, up IS always the direction away from the ground.

 

so does 'up' exist in space?

 

it completely depends what you define as 'up'. if 'up' is just above your head, then it's a changeable thing. if it's based on gravitation, it's useless and variable depending on different gravitational fields. i think humans would still look at things above their head as 'up'.

 

There is gravity in outer space, just not weight when you are in orbit, it's like on a roller coaster, you feel weightless when it goes into a fast/steep enough plunge, same deal in space, only because you are in orbit you are always plunging.
Anyways, i t'ink it's dishonest to say that up/down is a human concept, cause most animals i've come across get bothered when you turn them upside down (like cats, really, cats dont' like it).
neways, i don't think that 'faster than light' travel will happen in the context we imagine it. We're kinda stuck in this mind-frame where travel is occured through a horse pulling something, even a space ship is an elaborate propulsion system (the horse), with a small carraige. No, the only ways i can envision ftl travel is through the warping of space(star trek), or possibly jumping into higher dimesions (star wars) (NOT parelell universes, very different thingy).

 

yup....


lol....


perhaps a lot of other stuff we unconscously accept as universal truth is completely relative, too?

^.^