Space

The word space has many meanings, including:

Physics

The definition of space in physics is contentious. Various concepts used to try to define space have included:

• the structure defined by the set of "spatial relationships" between objects
• a manifold defined by a coordinate system where an object can be located
• the entity that stops all objects in the universe from touching one another
• the condition within the conceptual field of Existence that provides the 'ground' for any manifested form and as such it enables the movement and all physical dynamics

In classical physics, space is a three-dimensional Euclidean space where any position can be described using three coordinates. Relativistic physics examines spacetime rather than space; spacetime is modeled as a four-dimensional manifold.

Philosophical questions concerning space include: Is space absolute or purely relational? Does space have one correct geometry, or is the geometry of space just a convention? Historical Eminences who have taken sides in these debates include Isaac Newton (space is absolute), Gottfried Leibniz (space is relational), and Henri Poincaré (spatial geometry is a convention).

Two important thought-experiments connected with these questions are: Newton's bucket argument and Poincaré's sphere-world.

See also: Spherical coordinates, Cartesian coordinates, Philosophy of physics

Region

The term space can refer to the relatively empty parts of the Universe, outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. See outer space and Boundary to space. Space is referred to also as the "cosmos". Many other references also.

Mathematics

In mathematics, a space is a set, usually with some additional structure.

For examples, see Euclidean space, vector space, normed vector space, affine space, projective space, Banach space, inner product space, Hilbert space, topological space, uniform space, metric space, probability space.

Psychology

The term inner space has sometimes been used to describe the contents of the human mind.

Orthography

In some orthographies, a space is a blank area that serves as punctuation to provide interword separation.

Computers

The memory space of a computer is often thought as a one dimensional array of memory cells.

The Space character (ASCII value 32) is used as the blank separating words (same as Orthographic space), and corresponds to the spacebar on the keyboard.

Music

Space is a French electronic music band created in 1977. It was headed by Didier Marouani (also known as Ecama).

Space is also a Liverpool-based pop/indie band, popular in the late 90's.

Philosophy

Immanuel Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, regarded space as an a priori notion that allows us (together with other a priori notions such as time) to comprehend sense experience. With Kant, neither space nor time are conceived as substances, but rather both are elements of a systematic framework we use to structure our experience. Spatial measurements are used to quantify how far apart objects are, and temporal measurements are used to quantify how far apart events occur.

da:Rum de:Raum es:Espacio eo:Spaco fa:فضا fr:Espace ia:Spatio it:Spazio nl:Ruimte ja:空間 pl:Przestrzeń fi:Avaruus sv:Rum zh-cn:空间 simple:Space