The word fathomless means “too deep to fathom” and with respect to the universe, this can be applied both to its physical depth, as well as to the difficulty in understanding its properties.

Mankind has long sought to find the smallest building block that matter is made of. The journey has involved splitting the atom and much work involving sub-atomic particles. The results take us to smaller and smaller particles, most of which are very short lived. But what all particles have in common is that they liberate energy when attempts are made to “break” them.

The arguments below hope to show that matter, radiation and forces are all related and are the result of energy. They question what energy is, whether space is something or nothing, what nothing is, and from these conclusions, suggest the possibility that the universe is composed of a single “energized substance”, where space is the substance, and energy is the movement of the substance which is detected as matter, radiation and forces.

A true understanding of  “nothing” helps a finite universe with an ending to be visualized.

Further on, the question of what time is, is considered.

Everything in the universe that can be experienced, that we are aware of is either matter, radiation or force.

Matter, is mass and is made up of atoms, which are commonly found in three forms: solids, liquids and gases.

Atoms are made up of sub-atomic particles such as protons, neutrons and electrons.

Sub-atomic particles are made up of elementary particles such as quarks, leptons and bosons.

Electromagnetic waves such as light, gamma rays and x-rays, radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation and ultraviolet rays are examples of electromagnetic radiation.

All of these (electromagnetic radiation) are known collectively as the electromagnetic spectrum and are similar in that they move at 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light and differ from each other only with respect to the length of their wavelength. The shorter the wavelength, the higher their energy is. Matter constantly emits radiation of some sort.

Forces exist in the form of gravitational fields, magnetic fields and centripetal forces. They produce a change in the size, shape or the motion of a body. Commonly experienced as a "push" or "pull."

Forces are always associated with matter. Matter always has forces surrounding it.

Matter, radiation and forces are all interrelated. They are not found independently.

The universe is made up solely of matter, radiation and forces, which are all different forms of energy.

The universe therefore must be made up in its simplest form, solely of energy.

When particles are accelerated with enough energy, Einstein’s discovery that mass and energy are equivalent (E=MC2) is proven because the resulting new particles gain mass and are much heavier than the original particles. The energy that is used to accelerate the particles makes more matter.

What is energy?

Energy is defined as "the capacity of a body to do work."

That definition does not give a "concrete", easy to visualize answer to what energy is.

Add energy to any object of mass, whether the object is swinging, rotating, moving in a straight line or vibrating and it will move more quickly

In the case of temperature, more thermal energy increases the speed of movement of molecules and causes an increase in temperature. 

Adding energy to matter causes increased movement sub-atomically with the probability of more electromagnetic radiation being given off.  Reducing the amount of energy in all cases will cause the speed of their movements to slow. 

If there was no energy in the universe, all movement would cease. No stars would shine, planets would not rotate, atoms would not vibrate and there would be no electromagnetic radiation such as light.

It would be a cold, black and unchanging universe.

The addition or subtraction of energy, without exception, has an affect on movement. 

Energy is equivalent to movement.

Space

Matter is not all that the universe is composed of though.

Space is the other “ingredient” of the universe.

Without space there would be no distances, or dimensions - length, breadth and thickness. There would be no volume.

Matter and radiation could not exist without space, there would be no space for them to occupy or move around in.

What is space?

Empty space is a vacuum and thought of as being nothing, but it has three dimensions enabling movement, has a name, can be imagined and is considered able to be distorted by the presence of mass.

Space exists and is something.

What is nothing?

"Nothing" cannot be pictured in the mind; it can have no name except "nothing".

It has no dimensions, no volume. It is not possible to move around in nothing.

"Nothing" is not anything.

It is very difficult to imagine nothing, as everything that is known is something.

A finite universe?

The universe is considered to be expanding, but an infinite universe cannot expand because it is already of limitless size, so an expanding universe must be finite.

“Nothing” is an imaginable (at least by myself) border to the universe. There is literally nothing beyond it.

“Nothing” cannot exist in the universe, as the universe is made up from matter and space, which are both something.

Imagine space existing, possibly spherically. Beyond it there would be no space, no energy, no existence… nothing.

The universe would be expanding not into something, but "into" nothing… dimensionless non-existence.

Summary.

Matter, radiation and forces are forms of energy. Energy is their building block.

Matter can be made from pure energy in extreme circumstances.

The universe consists solely of energy and space.

Adding energy causes faster movement. Without energy, no movements would occur anywhere in the universe.

Space is the three dimensions. It is volume. Space exists and is something.

Nothing has no dimensions, no volume. Nothing is non-existent.

Nothing can be imagined as "bordering" the universe, which can then be imagined as finite.

Conclusions.

Space is something.

Energy is equivalent to movement.

Energy and space are the two basic components of the universe.

What then is energy the movement of?

As energy and space are the sole constituents of the universe, the only possible answer is that: Energy is the movement of space.

A "Moving Space" universe?

Imagine space as a medium, which is able to flow like a liquid or a gas.

Energy is the movement of the medium.

Matter exists due to an ever-increasing scale of complex, interacting movements of space.

Movements within movements that are held together in a balanced, almost stable state by positives and negatives, which attract and repel each other.

Circular movements cause a stretching and distortion of space, as with a whirlpool of fluid, where there is a pull towards its centre.

This causes what are experienced as forces.

When energy is gained or lost from the circular movements, they gain or lose motion in the form of waves in order to remain stable. The waves being electromagnetic radiation.

A "Moving Space" origin of the universe.

Imagine that the universe began when the substance of space burst "into" non-existence with great force. 

The enormous energy caused chaotic movements with no pattern or order.

As space expanded, the movements became "patterned", regular and balanced, forming waves (radiation) and circular movements (particles).

The interaction of different circular movements caused a variety of  combinations.

Some of these combinations became relatively stable and formed atoms. When they combined,  molecules were created, making the universe as we know it today.

Consider space when it's not moving as "inert" and undetectable.

It can only be detected when it moves, as your body lying in a still pool would only feel the water that moved against it.

Something from nothing?

The above suggestion for the origin of the universe still has at least one stumbling block.

Where did space come from?

Getting "something from nothing" cannot be imagined.

However there is no logical answer to how space or any first thing could have come from nothing….. Yet.

Time

What is time?

The quick, easy answer is “ What you measure with a clock”

Time is difficult to define and there is no agreed upon definition for it.

Looking at what happens as time passes and what would have to happen for time not to pass gives an answer to what time is.

Constantly and without exception, everything on our planet and throughout the universe is moving on one level or another. On the large scale of galaxies and planets moving through space, to animals, the sea or the air around us, to the level of atoms vibrating or light travelling at high speed.

Some movements such as the Earth revolving around the Sun, and spinning on its axis give rise to cycles that are predictable and give us years, (months thanks to the Moon) and days.

Days are split up into hours, minutes and seconds, using a timepiece such as a clock or watch.

A timepiece uses a movement of one kind or another; the pendulum or wheel moves constantly in a set, equal regular way and ticks off one second at a time, giving a reading such as 2.50pm.

These readings are labels or names that are given to a specific moment or instant of time; they can be referred back to later.

People can agree upon what happened at any place on, or observable from Earth at say 2.50pm GMT on Friday 12 December 2003 thanks to the label that is called time.

A timepiece uses a movement to measure movement.

The measurement of time is therefore a measure of the movement of matter and energy through space.

If everything in the universe were to stop moving, then time would stop.

The pendulum would be still, nothing anywhere would move or change position. Time would stop. All would be caught in a timeless moment, like a photograph.

For time to occur both matter and space need to exist; matter to be moved and space for matter to move around in.

The measurement of time is purely mathematical, numbers specifically pinpointing moments of time.

Time is conceptual and has been invented because man has a memory.

Without memory, time would have no meaning and would never have been conceived of.

Without numbers or memory, time would simply be movement, as there would be no intelligence, memory or number system to relate occurrences to each other.

Time enables the position (a relative coordinate) of any and all objects (matter) in space to be pinpointed at a specific moment and “labelled” with a time. Their change in position (movement) can be followed.

If you have any comments or thoughts about the content of this website, whether positive or negative, you can e-mail me at dvdjrbsn@hotmail.com  

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Last updated 18 February 2008