Hypography Science Forums: Dimensions - Hypography Science Forums

,I have given some thought to the nature of dimensions and what it really means when we say 3D space or 4D spacetime.

Can you talk about the existence of more than one given object, say, a one dimensional line,without invoking a second dimension?

I would like to try and show how by extrapolating logically from lower , one and two Dimension examples, that the world we live in is actually 4 spacial dimensions. Not the 3 space and one time,that is commonly cited.

One entry I read in this forum talked about Einstien "explaining away" time. I think so too. I once read that Einstein said that time is a construct of the human mind.

I think that when relativity "realised" that time and space are one and the same, what that really means is that us , we, 3D beings "see" the 4th spacial Dimension as time.

Lets go back to the line. If there is one line , and only one line, then you have a single object with the capacity to house an infinite amount of points. Notice that the length of the line is irrelevant because a line of any distance whatsoever has the same amount of points within it: infinite.

The concept of one line is very important because we all have a tendancy to "picture" objects "in space" or "on a surface". When I talk about a single object, then that object would represent an entire universe. Our freind the line:) is not suspended in space or on a paper or other surface, it just is.

So the line:) consists of infinite points, and it must have infinite points. In order to have any less than infinite points, the only possibility is to have one point. Once there two points you have "space" between them and that space MUST be a line, in other words, when you go from one point to two points, by definition you now have a single object of the next higher dimension, in this case, a line. And to be redundantly clear, once there are two points , the distance between them becomes an infinity because it can always be divided.


Instead of going through that whole exercise for a two dimensional surface ( you can just replace the word "point" with "line" and the word "line" with "2D surface") lets just jump to 3 Dimensions.

If in fact there exists a 3D object, and only one, you could be sure of length, width, and depth. You can visualize a box, if you like, or a sphere, but remember, only one. Not a box sitting in space or say the earth in its orbit. This universe is a 3D object. So now its time to introduce a second 3D object. Another box? An atom? It does'nt matter. Remember our freind:) the line? The points within that line could not discern the size of the line, only that there was room for infinite points.

We say our world is 3Dimensional, but how can this be? If the space between two points is a line, and the space between two lines is a surface, how can the space between two 3 dimensional objects continue to be only 3 dimensions.

We "observe" events as they pass by us, yet these events are just our limited perception of 4D space. If your body passed through a flatlander's surface feet first, the flatlander would percieve your entire body in stages, not aware of the depth. The flatlander would say our body was a series of events.