The cosmic web & spacetime fabric

              The cosmic web & spacetime fabric

                  Hello everyone. To date we discussed varying subjects like how the universe started, stars, and black holes. But in this blog we will be discussing something quite more interesting. So today's topic is ' The cosmic web & spacetime fabric '.

• What is Cosmic Web
  
• Introduction to Spacetime Fabric
• Differences

              First thing that I would like to clear out is that the cosmic web and the spacetime fabric are not the one and the same. There are differences between them which we will be discussing

The cosmic web : 

What is is : The cosmic web is a structure of the universe itself. As we all know the universe is constantly expanding and this makes it essential to have a particular shape and structure on the basis of which it expands. This structure is the cosmic web. along with the changing or to be more precise, expanding universe this web which is spread across the cosmos is also expanding.

                    The cosmic web is an invisible web that scientists determine as mentioned above, is spread across the universe. Research shows us today that this web is made up of hydrogen atoms. As research suggests, though this web is made up of hydrogen filaments, it has many other causes of forming which date straight back to the big bang and how the universe came into being. I have written 2 blog posts on this very topic. If interested click here for viewing them.

              

            

 

How it was formed: After the big bang occurred there were many events occurring in the space. The universe expanded over an unimaginable margin just a fraction of time. With all these process taking place, no sooner was the first element formed.It has been believed by the scientist that this element was helium and Hydrogen was later formed after helium. After the formation of Hydrogen, stars began to form.

                    Around 40 % of hydrogen was accounted for the forming of stars and galaxies in the early universe. while on the other hand the remaining 60 % Hydrogen was collected at certain points in space and eventually gave rise to the formation of Hydrogen filaments. these hydrogen filaments were actually the strands of the cosmic web which was starting to form and spread across the universe.

                   

How it is detected: Even though we cannot practically see it , its effects are prominently notable so that we know its existence for sure. Scientists have observed ultraviolet light emitted by newborn stars of a primitive galaxy being absorbed and then released by hydrogen filaments. Through this observation,  scientists were able to capture a few strands of the cosmic web. Scientists also call this web as the warm - hot intergalactic medium. Accordingly, a recent study also tells us that stars and galaxies are formed at places where such cosmic web strands meet each other.

If one day we get enough information about the cosmic web then we can actually position places in the universe where galaxies will be formed along with its accurate time of formation. We will then also be able to create a whole map of the universe which will be much more accurate than we have ever built !!!

Spacetime fabric :

Introduction to what spacetime fabric is:  Space and time fabric often mentioned as to the spacetime fabric is the 4-dimensional fabric spread across the universe. This idea of considering the dimensions of space and time together as a spacetime fabric was first proposed by Albert Einstein. According to Einstein this  fabric is spread across the whole universe and curvature is created in this fabric because of any mass which is suspended in it.

Einstein , relativity, and spacetime : As mentioned above this idea of a 4-dimensional space was first proposed by Sir Albert Einstein. It was not long after Einstein proposed the Special theory of relativity that he came up with another type of it which was known as general Relativity. general relativity was a great piece of finding which further led to the discovery of curved spacetime.

What is curved spacetime : After the discovery of spacetime as a completely different 4th dimension, there were many debates on its shape. However today research shows us that the dimension of spacetime is flat. But even if spacetime is flat it is distorted by mass. this means that when any mass is present in the spacetime fabric, it causes the fabric to curve around. This is called curved spacetime and according to modern science, this curvature in spacetime attract objects in space towards itself. In short, curved spacetime fabric causes gravitational pull.

Shape : As we mentioned above , spacetime has curvature. This has in turn given rise to many debates over what the shape of the spacetime fabric would be and this lead scientists to a more big question, What is the shape of the universe? understanding the shape of the universe was really important to understand more about spacetime fabric. The few possible outcomes were that, that if the spacetime is positively curved, spacetime is flat or spacetime is negatively curved.

                    If the spacetime was positively curved, then it would lead the space to be the shape of a large sphere or. This also meant that space travel could be possible. On the other hand, if spacetime was flat then it would extend infinitely in all directions. Or if the space is negatively curved then it would bend inside.

                    Our findings over a few years show us that the shape of the universe is flat and is thus expanding in all directions. And thus this has also overtime shown us that the spacetime fabric is also flat.

Difference : The very basic and simple difference between these is that the cosmic web is natural and can be used to determine space activities, and probably also help us know more about the big bang and the expansion of universe. While on the other hand the spacetime fabric is quite illusionary / is a byproduct of the shape of the universe and is used for our convenience of considering the dimensions of space and time as one single dimension so that it helps us define gravity.



So everyone hope you enjoyed reading and will come back for more of some space articles. Stay home Stay safe