Dot’s one-iversal adventures in relativity. [Part 1]
Okay, so Dot is unable to greet us vocally, but perhaps, instead of saying hello, our hero of relativity can wave us a welcome instead. Give us a wave Dot!…
Can you see him waving?
No? Wave harder Dot! Now can you see him? Still not?
Oh yes, that will be his quirkiness again. Being a node of mass, he doesn’t have any proper body parts. Just as he has no voice box with which to speak, he doesn’t have any hands to wave with either.
Hmmm……how are we going to solve this rather tricky problem of properly introducing our hero to you?
Perhaps, we’ll be able to see him more clearly if we get nearer to him by just zooming in a bit…..
Can you see him now?
No? My neither. Perhaps we need to get even closer….
Still not visible?
Zooming in yet closer closer again….
He still isn’t particularly clear is he?
That’s probably a core feature of being a one dimensional node of mass. Not only is he so simple that he lacks body parts, he lacks any physical size at all…
- no Height
- no Length
- no Width
The only physical dimension he possess is mass. It wouldn’t really matter how close we got to him, we would never be able to see him because we can’t see mass!
I suppose you could simply take my word for it that he is there but that wouldn’t be a very satisfactory solution for anyone: you would probably keep thinking I was telling some tall tale with no basis; I would feel like I had failed my friend; Dot…well how would you feel if you were only granted existence by presumption?
Let’s have a think about this…
Got it!
If I can’t show you Dot directly then perhaps, I can show you him indirectly by what he can do. Obviously, being dimensionally challenged, he can’t sing us an aria or do a tap-dance routine, but he could demonstrate that he has mass.
Here we go!…..
Hmmm, we must have missed him, let’s try again a bit to one side…
Dot! Stop messing about. We need to introduce you to the people! Alright, one last attempt to find him on the other side…
Ha! I told you I wasn’t making him up. May I introduce Dot, a massive yet sizeless node. Speaking of massive, it does look as if he has been putting on weight recently. Dot? You’ll have to come down to the sports club with me later and get rid of some of that!
More to follow….
- How are you enjoying the adventure so far?
- Are you looking forward to future episodes?
- Who do you know that makes their presence felt even without seeing or hearing them?
- Where do you think this might all be headed?
Comment with all your thoughts and suggestions, I look forward to reading them all and having a lively discussion.
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