According to Newton’s view, force does not the cause motion but only a change in it and because a freely moving object continues to move inertia and motion in itself needs no causal explanation.
However as Gao, Shan points out in on page 29 of his book “God Does Play Dice with the Universe” there is a problem with that concept of motion because:
“According to Newton, neither external force nor internal force is the cause of constant motion. So there is only one possibility left , i.e., that motion has no cause. In other words the change in position or state of an object due to a constant velocity does not have cause.
However modern science is based on the assumption that all changes in the state of a system require a cause. In other words one cannot integrate the Newtonian concept of motion or the change in position associated with it into our current scientific paradigms which are based almost entirely on causality”.
Granted Einstein was able to define the causality of the energy associated with gravity and accelerated motion in terms of curvature in four dimensional space-time and the relativistic properties of motion in terms of that same four dimensional model however he was unable or did not chose to address what causality of the energy of constant motion.
One reason may have been that constant motion by definition does not change with time even though it is undergoing a change in spatial properties.
Therefore to understand its casualty one should define it with respect those properties and not those of time or a space-time dimension.
Fortunately Einstein gave us the ability to do this when used the equation E=mc^2 and the velocity of light to define the properties of energy in of space-time environment because it allows one to convert a unit of displacement he associated with it in a four dimensional space-time universe to an equivalent unit of spatial displacement in four *spatial* dimensions. Additionally because the velocity of light is constant it is possible to defined a one to one correspondence between his space-time universe and one made up of four *spatial* dimensions.
In other words because he defined the geometric relationship between energy, mass, space and time in terms of the constant velocity of light means that one can quantitatively and qualitatively define a one to one between the properties of energy in a space-time universe to the physical properties of space four *spatial* dimensions.
The fact that one can use the Einstein’s equations to qualitatively and qualitatively derive the spatial properties of energy in a space-time universe in terms of four *spatial* dimensions is one bases for assuming, as was done in the article “Defining energy?†Nov 27, 2007 that all forms of energy can be derived in terms of a spatial displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
One of the theoretical advantages to transposing Einstein space-time concepts to four *spatial* dimensions is that it allows one define a common mechanism for the causality of gravity, acceleration, inertia and constant motion.
For example the article “Why Space-time?” Sept. 27, 2007 showed the energy associated with rest mass is directly proportional to the magnitude of a curvature or “depression” in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension. Additionally it was shown that one can derive the causality of all accelerations including gravitational in terms of an interaction of rest mass with the slope of a curvature in the “surface” of three-dimensional space with respect to a fourth 8spatial* dimension caused by that displacement.
(This curvature is analogous to a curvature in a four-dimensional space-time manifold Einstein theorized was the causality of all accelerations.)
However as was shown in the article “Defining energy” there will be a 1 to 1 correspondence between an objects rest mass and the curvature in space associated with the energy required to make a unit change in its displacement with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension. Therefore the inertia of an object, as is confirmed by observations would be directly proportional to its rest mass if one assumes as was done in that article that causality of both is related to a displacement caused by a curvature in “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to fourth *spatial* dimension. This allows one to define the causality of inertia in terms of an interaction of the rest mass of an object with a curvature in a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a four *spatial* dimensions.
This also to defines the causality of constant motion because according to the theoretical concepts presented in that article the energy associated with its momentum would be defined by a constant linear displacement of the depression associated with its rest mass in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
Therefore motion will continue unchanged unless it interacts with the curved “surface” of three-dimensional space that article associated with accelerations. This allows one to define the casualty constant motion in terms of a linear or constant displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
However it also enables one to define causality of the relative properties of constant motion because according to the concepts develop in that article the momentum of an object in motion would be determined by the relative separation its three-dimensional “surface” has with respect to the three-dimensional “surface” of the object or measuring device used to determine its velocity. In other words all motion is relative because its causality is directly related to the relative separation of its three-dimensional “surface” with respect to the three-dimension “surface” of another object or measuring device.
This defines a causal link between constant motion inertia, rest mass gravity and all accelerations in terms of an interaction of the “surfaces” of a three-dimensional space manifold and a fourth *spatial* dimension.
This shows how one can integrate the causality of a change in position associated with constant motion into our current scientific paradigms which are based almost entirely on causality and conceptually link it with Einstein’s concept of gravity and accelerate motion in terms of four *spatial* dimensions.
Later Jeff
Copyright Jeffrey O’Callaghan 2013