Other Dimensions
We humans have lived all our lives in the third dimension, but what possibilities are out there for other dimensions, what could a fourth dimension entail, and what could alternate dimensions mean. I have decided to look into other dimensions because the possibility of things other than width, length, and height, fascinates me. The possibility of a creature life like to live in an alternate dimension with properties besides our third dimension is so big and so interesting and I am curious to explore the world and other possibilities of alternate dimensions.
I have always been fascinated with other dimensions, but I am not an expert on dimensions other than the third. I could probably talk about two or one dimensions, but we all probably could. So, what are alternate dimensions, what it would be like if we were in the second dimension or in the second dimension first experiencing a third, tesseracts and Klein bottles are, and how tesseracts and Klein bottles are in the third dimension that we live in. I found these ideas really amazing and I enjoyed learning more about alternate dimensions, so I have written up what I learned about other dimensions and what they could mean, in this paper.
First off, I want to define what makes a new dimension. When a new right angle branches off of the previous dimension and creates a new direction, a new dimension is made. For example, when you take a two dimensional square and extend it up or down, it creates a new direction that is perpendicular to the first two dimensions.
Flatland, by Edwin Abbott, is about a two dimensional square who is swept up by a three dimensional sphere and introduced the square to three dimensional space. The book shows what it would be like traveling to a new dimension from the current dimension you live in and the limitations of it.
A tesseract, a four dimensional cube, can not be seen in its four dimensional form by three dimensional being, but three dimensional beings, like us, only can see the shadow of a tesseract, which is three dimensional. The shadow of a particular life form is one dimension smaller than the dimension the life form lives in.
Another four dimensional object is the Klein bottle. Unlike the tesseract, a Klein bottle is something that humans do have, but with a catch. A Klein bottle is basically a zero sided figure, and could be created when you take a mobius strip (a loop with a twist), and connect the edges together. Except, it’s a bit different in a way that is hard to explain. The image is on the left. The Klein bottle, in its four dimensional form, has a ‘bridge’ that humans can’t make. Basically, in the fourth dimension, the two Klein bottle’s intersection that we see, wouldn’t intersect. Imagine you are two dimensional and you have a figure eight. Except, you don’t want it to intersect. If you are two dimensional, you can only edit it so that it intersects. It’s not the full three dimensional figure. Now a three dimensional being comes by. The three dimensional being takes the line and builds a
bridge up. Now it looks like the image on the right (the white/gray is there to indicate the third dimension). But to the two dimensional being, the black figure eight has disappeared, and reappeared. With the Klein bottle, a four dimensional being can make the fourth dimensional bridge, and it will disappear for us, three dimensional beings, or it will only partly, be in its true form.
The life forms of that dimension, also see in the dimension one lower than, but are able to comprehend and understand their dimension and are able to perceive it in a certain way. This is why we, humans, can perceive three dimensional objects, but really our sight is two dimensional. We just perceive the two dimensions in three dimensions.
Another important note to make when working with dimensions, is that each dimension builds on the previous dimension. You can’t have a three dimensional sphere without two dimensional cross sections of the circles that make up the sphere. You can’t have a two dimensional circle without one dimensional lines that make up the circle. And, you can’t have a one dimensional line without zero dimensional points. This is because each new dimension needs part of the previous dimensions to branch off in the new direction, perpendicular to the other dimensions.
At first, the fourth dimension officially being time was a ridiculous idea for me. But after learning more about why it is considered to be the fourth dimension, it makes since. In order to fully understand the argument for time being the fourth dimension, you have to think of a dimension as a direction perpendicular to all the previous dimensions. You also have to understand that while we can’t see how time is perpendicular to length, width, and height, we are three dimensional and we cannot perceive the fourth dimension without a fourth dimensional being enabling us to somehow see their world. A direction can go in two ways. Forward/backward. Left/right. Up/down. So in the fourth dimension, time could go both forward and backward, potentially allowing time-travel. Freeze. Before I move on, if that is the case with four dimensional beings being able to time-travel because time is the fourth dimension, then we, three dimensional humans, will NEVER be able to time travel unless a fourth dimensional being came and helped us discover the fourth dimension. Sorry to crush dreams, but if that is the case, then time-travel would be virtually impossible for three dimensional beings. Okay. Back to reasons why the fourth dimension could actually be time. Another good point, is that every three dimensional moment in time that happens, could make up a fourth dimensional space-time. Oh, look. Back at time being the fourth dimension. And tesseracts and Klein bottles could simply be two of many objects unique to the fourth dimension. But since we aren’t living in the fourth dimension, then we won’t know for sure without the help of a four dimensional being.
So, I only focused on the fourth dimension, because while other people out there have similar theories for fifth dimension and higher, but honestly, us three dimensional beings, can imagine the fourth, but it will get more and more confusing and hard for us to imagine dimensions higher than the fourth, so I’m just going to focus on the fourth. If you are really curious, search ‘other dimensions’ but it gets pretty complex and confusing.
One new point before the article finishes. It actually comes up in a video by Carl Sagan, who was talking about Flatland and what it was like for a flat square to enter a new third dimension and then talked about the tesseract. Then, the coolest idea/theory ever came up. It brought it back to a two dimensional being’s perspective. Basically, a two dimensional life form could mark their spot and travel around their ‘flat’ universe and wind up were they started because really, it was three dimensional. Now what if we up this one dimension? Well then our universe could really be shaped like a Klein bottle and we could be the lesser dimension oblivious to our four dimensional Klein bottle universe.
I feel so much more knowledgeable after learning more about dimensions other than the third. I vaguely knew about the tesseract before this, but I never had heard of a Klein bottle, so that was cool. I actually heard the analogy of the figure eight from a video that discussed the four dimensional Klein bottle, and that was actually really cool and makes perfect sense. So that was the article on other dimensions. I know I learned a lot in the process of writing it.The fourth dimension is fascinating, and remember, if you ever are talking to a stubborn person who says: “Time can’t be the fourth dimension! That makes no sense and we have time so it wouldn’t be something new at all and besides, how is time a dimension? It is something every dimension has and where would time be pointed in. Time is NOT a dimension!”, (all credits to my past self for stubborn person); you can tell them that we can’t know which way time right angles and is perpendicular to all previous dimensions, dimensions are directions, a two dimensional being has a point zero on the z axis just like we have a point zero (point present) on the w (fourth dimension axis), and each three dimensional moment in time could make up a four dimensional plane of all time together. So that’s that. We will never be able to see the fourth dimension without a four dimensional beings help, but we can imagine it in three dimensions. So be happy for the dimensions we do have!
