Continuum is a term used in science to describe a series or range of things that are continuous or similar. It can also be used to describe a line or category of items. For example, the colors in a rainbow form a continuum of color.
Several scientific theories can be described using continuum models instead of attempting to model each individual atom or part of an object. This is especially true when looking at large scale phenomena such as the movement of planets and stars.
A continuum is a set of things that change gradually, without having clear dividing lines between them. It is a set that is not clearly divided into different parts, although its extremes may be quite different. It can be a series of atoms, a group of people or even a line or set of numbers.
The continuum hypothesis (CH) is a central open problem in set theory, a field of mathematics that deals with the infinite. It is one of the most difficult to resolve, and it is a very important problem for both mathematical and philosophical reasons.
Cantor worked hard to prove that CH was true, but he was unsuccessful. It is believed that he eventually abandoned the project because it was so frustrating to him.
It is still possible to find a universe in which the continuum hypothesis holds, but this requires finding a way to make Godel’s world more nontrivial by adding real numbers to it. This is a very hair-raising task that is unlikely to be achieved anytime soon.
Many scientists now believe that the continuum hypothesis is false, and that this will become clear when scientists discover ways to fix larger and larger parts of the universe, beyond the Borel sets in which it was first proposed. The question of whether or not the continuum hypothesis is false has led to many fascinating mathematical discoveries, including those by Godel and Cohen.
Continuum Mechanics
During the 19th century, mathematicians made the transition from studying the motion of individual particles to analyzing the average behavior of large masses. In the process, they came up with a technique called continuum mechanics.
This is a technique that ignores the particulate nature of matter and instead concentrates on the behaviour of large numbers of atoms. It can be used to study the motion of the atmosphere as well as the movement of the planets and stars.
In a continuum the average value of any fluid property tends to a limit as the size of the volume approaches zero, provided that this occurs before molecular activity prevents it from occurring. The concept of the REV is a resolvable quantity that defines this limit; it essentially functions as a filter, preventing the presence of any activity below the REV.
The REV is not an arbitrary choice, and in fact it forms the link between the continuum hypothesis and differential calculus. Once the REV is defined, the moment of inertia about any axis passing through it is identically zero; therefore, it behaves like a point mass that is distributed uniformly throughout its volume.