<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Messiah</i>
<br />If there is a minute property of mass in space - undetectable by our technology - and the density of space over light years of distance varies (say it DOUBLES) from place to place, what effect would that have on the nature of light over vast distences.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">For starters, it helps to use consistent definitions of terms. Although these "mixed" definitions are used even today by professional physicists, we at Meta Research feel strongly that one must adhere to physical definitions rather than mathematical ones if we are to make progress in understanding physics.
As this applies here, "space", "time". and "scale" are dimensions, which are concepts, not physical entities. The simplest concept for space is Euclidean space, so we always prefer that unless we have some reason to deviate from it. In cosmology, there is normally no good reason to choose any concept of space other than the Euclidean one.
With this meaning. space has no such property as "density". However, space can be filled with a tangible, material, light-carrying medium, for which the term "elysium" is now used. And elysium can easily double its density, allowing us to give a sensible, non-speculative answer to your question. If the density of elysium doubles, the speed of light through that elysium would be reduced by 30%. (It's not 50% because wave speeds vary inversely with the square root of medium density.)
When the light leaves the denser elysium, its speed changes again to accord with whatever the density is at that place. So the time it takes light to traverse space depends on the density of elysium everywhere along its path. -|Tom|-
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