Continuum vs Spacetime - What's the difference?
continuum | spacetime |
A continuous series or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other.
A continuous extent.
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(mathematics) The set of all real numbers and, more generally, a compact connected metric space.
(musical instruments) A touch-sensitive strip, similar to an electronic standard musical keyboard, except that the note steps are of a semitone, and so are not separately marked.
(uncountable, physics) The four-dimensional continuum of the three spatial dimensions plus time.
(physics) An n''-dimensional continuum consisting of dimensions of both space & time. Normally spacetime is considered as having 4 dimensions (''x'', ''y'', ''z'', ''t ), but higher-dimensional spacetimes are often encountered in theoretical physics, e.g. the 5-dimensional spacetime of Kaluza-Klein theory or the 11 dimensions of spacetime in M-theory.
(relativity) A specific region of the universe with mathematically different properties than the surrounding spacetime. Synonymous with "metric" within the context of general relativity.
As nouns the difference between continuum and spacetime
is that continuum is a continuous series or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other while spacetime is (uncountable|physics) the four-dimensional continuum of the three spatial dimensions plus time.continuum
English
(wikipedia continuum)Noun
(en-noun)citation, passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.}}
spacetime
English
(wikipedia spacetime)Noun
- An event is a point in spacetime , specified by the coordinates x,y,z and t.
- "a Schwarzschild spacetime," "a Reissner-Nordström spacetime," etc. as opposed to sense (2) describing the universe's spacetime as a whole: "a Minkowski spacetime," "a 5-dimensional spacetime," etc.
