Does time have an end? If so when and where will it happen?
This question is a difficult to answer definitively because if time does end no one would be able to find the time to tell us it had.
How then can we determine if it will?
One was is by analyzing what we know about the present time and project it into the future.
For example cosmologists believe that time will come to an end because our universe is expanding and will experience heat death or a state were no thermodynamic process occur. This conclusion is base in part on the observation that the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to dark energy and therefore they feel it will continue until it reaches thermodynamic equilibrium.
However they make this prediction even though they do not have a theoretical model defining what is causing its expansion to accelerate or how long it will continue.
Yet one can look at those same observations regarding an expanding universe and come to a completely different conclusion using Einstein concepts of space-time and observations of our three dimensional environment.
For example recent observations tell us that space is not only expanding but accelerating towards a higher spatial dimension not a time or space-time dimension.
Therefore, to explain how the universe is expanding and accelerating towards higher spatial dimension one would have to assume the existence of another one in addition to the three spatial dimensions and one time dimension that Einstein’s theories contain to account for that observation.
This would be true if Einstein had not given us a means of qualitatively and quantitatively converting the geometric properties of his space-time universe to one consisting of only four *spatial* dimensions.
He did this when he defined the geometric properties of a space-time universe in terms of the balance between mass and energy defined by the equation E=mc^2 and the constant velocity of light because that provided a method of converting the displacement in space-time he associated with energy to its equivalent displacement in four *spatial* dimensions. Additionally because the velocity of light is constant he also defined a one to one quantitative correspondence between his space-time universe and one made up of four *spatial* dimensions.
In other words by defining the geometric properties of a space-time universe in terms of mass/energy and the constant velocity of light he provided a qualitative and quantitative means of redefining it in terms of the geometry of four *spatial* dimensions.
The fact that the equation E=mc^2 allows us to quantitatively derive the spatial properties of energy in a space-time universe in terms of four *spatial* dimensions is the 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 displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension instead of one in a space-time manifold.
However converting or transposing the displacement Einstein associated with energy in a space-time universe to its equivalent displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimensions not only allows one to understand how our universe can be expanding to a higher spatial dimension but also allows one to understand how Dark Energy effects the evolution of time,
We know from the study of thermodynamics that energy flows from areas of high density to area of low density very similar to how water flows form an elevated or “high density” point to a lower one.
For example if the walls of an above ground pool filled with water collapse, the elevated two dimensional surface of the water will flow or expand and accelerate outward towards the three-dimensional environment sounding it and that the force associated with that expansion will decline as its surface spread out.
Yet we know from observations of the cosmic background radiation that our three-dimensional universe has an average energy component equal to about 3.7 degrees Kelvin.
However this means that according to concepts developed in the article “Defining energy” (mentioned earlier) the three-dimensional “surface” of our universe which has an average energy component of 3.7 degree Kelvin would be “elevated” or “displaced” with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension,
Yet this means similar to the two dimensional surface of the water in the pool three-dimensional space will accelerate and flow or expand outward in the four dimensional environment surround it and that the force associated with that it will decline as it expands.
In other words as time goes by the expansive force associated with Dark Energy will decrease.
Einstein also told us that there is an equivalence between mass and energy and since mass is associated with the attractive properties of gravity it also tells us, because of that equivalence, the kinetic energy associated with the universe’s expansion also possess those attractive properties. However the law of conservation of energy/mass tells us that in a closed system the creation of kinetic energy cannot exceed the gravitational energy associated with the total energy/mass in the universe and that a reduction in one must be compensated for by an increase in the other.
This means the total gravitation potential of the universe must increase as it expands and cools approaching a maximum value at absolute “0” while at the same time the kinetic energy of its expansive components must decrease. Therefore, at some point in time, the universe MUST enter a contractive phase because the total gravitational potential must eventually exceed the kinetic energy of its expansion. This is would be true even though the gravitational potential of its kinetic energy components would be disturbed or “diluted” by a factor of c^2.
(Some may try to dismiss this by saying that as the universe expands its energy is spread out over a larger volume so after a while it just vanishes so to speak or as some like to say that the universe experiences a heat death. However Einstein theories do not permit energy to just disappear or “die”. It unequivocally tells us that if the kinetic energy content in a closed environment decreases as it cools the mass content of that environment must increase irrespective of the volume of that environment. Therefore because by definition the universe is a closed system one must assume that any reduction in its overall energy content of the universe including its heat energy must be must be compensated for by an increase in its total attractive gravitational mass content.)
Yet this also tells us the evolution of time would be defined by a dynamic interaction between the spatial components of mass and energy because it tells the forces associated with them diametrically oppose each other.
Current observations of our universe tell us that it is undergoing an accelerated spatial expansion with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension. However as time goes Einstein’s theories suggest the power of its expansive component will decrease for the same reason as the expansive power of the water in a pool whose walls have collapsed decrease as it expands. This means the contractive gravitational forces he associated with energy/mass created by the decrease in its energy content will become predominate. This will result in the entering a contraction phase.
(For a more detailed explanation of causality this process please review the article “The Return of the Big Bang” Jan 15, 2008)
This contraction will continue until the radiation pressure heat generated by its collapse is enough to counter act the gravitational contractive forces of its energy/mass thereby causing it to enter a period of expansion.
However after a given period the power of its expansive forces will decrease as was shown earlier and the contractive force associated with mass will again take over.
As mentioned earlier it should be remember this theoretical model was derived directly from Einstein experimentally verified equation of E=mc^2 and the observable and therefore verifiable properties of three-dimensional space. .
This suggests that time may not end because our universe it would continue uninterrupted through dynamic cyclic interchange of mass and energy brought on by contraction and expansion of our universe.
Later Jeff
Copyright Jeffrey O’Callaghan 2013