Space, Time, and Matter

This term I had the opportunity to email my physical science students prior to the first class meeting. The class begins on a laboratory day, a Thursday, and I use the session to introduce the concepts of space, time, and matter. This may seem a tad simplistic, but in general the students are rather severely underexposed to the concepts of science. One of my goals is to get them thinking and, I hope, wondering. Secondarily I am beginning to introduce vocabulary, critical in that for almost all of my students English is a second language.

The following is not entirely accurate and oversimplifies the underlying reality, if any exists. Word lists can always be extended. That said, mass is a concept some of my students have never encountered, and all of the clock time words in their L1 language are borrowed from L2 languages including English, Japanese, or German. Even the concept of the three dimensionality of space is novel for many of the students - the orthogonal nature of dimensionality, even the concept of a right angle, are all mysterious at best. Even for me!

The following observations were included in my note to the students.
  • Space is about choice. Forward, backward, left, right, up, or down. You can go any direction. Up to you.
  • Time leaves no choice. Relentlessly marching ever forward into the future. There is no going back. No left time, no right time. No up, no down. Only one direction. No choice.
  • Mass is the mystery. Mass has no direction. Mass has no forward, no backward. No left. No right. No up. No down. Mass simply exists. 

  • Space is the questions how close, how far, which way, where am I, how high, how deep, how wide, how long. Space has lots of questions.
  • Time is the questions when, how old, how young. Time has only few questions.
  • Mass is the question how much. Mass has the fewest questions.
  • Space is near, far, over there, here, on, over, under, above, below, big, small, narrow, tall, short, wide, in front, in back, across. Space has many descriptors.
  • Time is now, never, sooner, later, forever, immediately. Time has a only few descriptors.
  • Mass is a lot, a little. Mass has the fewest descriptors.

Everything else is pure energy.

Why?

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