Thread: 4th dimension

Hey, guys! Fresh meat here, just joined the forum.

Anyway, I've been reading up on 4th dimension and have few questions about it.

So is there any other proof or does our world give us any hints that there really is a 4th spacial dimension. Or is it just a mathematical theory and there are not evidents of it in real world.
Second question: Let's say that we can prove for 100% that there is a 4th spacial dimension, now is that knowledge in anyway useful to us. I mean, can we potentially use this 4th dimension in anyway. For example, could we "transport" 3d objects through 4th dimension?

Share your thoughts or ideas...

I'm pretty sure that there is no current experimental evidence for more than 3 spatial dimensions.

Having said that, it should be pointed out how research plays out in real life. Typically, someone spends a lot of time working on something seemingly pointless. (This is called basic research, unless I've got my definitions wrong.) They eventually discover something new, but no one knows what use it is. Then someone else sees it and works out how to combine that with other discoveries to produce new ideas and products that no one would have thought of before. This has played out many, many times so far, so I would bet on the same thing happening again with things like string theory.

(Cue William ranting about multi-sub-atomic-particle physicists uninventing the wheel.)

well, the whole thing behind my question is that in contemporary physics it seems like scientists make up more and more "theories" that check out through math but that's about it. Now the reason why they "make up" such crazy theories (string theory for example) is because they stumbled upon something in nature through experiments or there are some "exceptions" in existing and proven laws that are unexplained, therefore scientists begin to imagine (or use scientific guess) and make up "crazy theories" .

On the same note, i read an article about this "surfer dude" how "figured" out the secret of the universe and actually a lot of scientists took him seriously

Hi,
I still think the fourth dimension was true due to the fact, (spherical ) objects will not only move spatially at the same position. They could move thru space, additionally.

Steve

Well, it's not the object itself. But, perhaps, some point on it. ; )

Originally Posted by alexdj1983

well, the whole thing behind my question is that in contemporary physics it seems like scientists make up more and more "theories" that check out through math but that's about it. Now the reason why they "make up" such crazy theories (string theory for example) is because they stumbled upon something in nature through experiments or there are some "exceptions" in existing and proven laws that are unexplained, therefore scientists begin to imagine (or use scientific guess) and make up "crazy theories".

Well, that happens a lot. Things like string theory sound impressive, and the math works, but no one's sure if it's real or not. The difference between that and something truly made up is that string theory makes predictions. Currently we can't actually build devices powerful enough to test these predictions (which is why many scientists don't like string theory) but when we can, we can look at the results of those experiments and say whether or not string theory (or any other theory) holds water.

If the experiments match the predictions, then that makes string theory more reliable. If not, then they know string theory can't be right. This is really the fundamental difference between science and everything else: falsifiability. If there are ways to prove the theory false and none of them work, you have to that the theory has some value.

Originally Posted by MagiMaster

(Cue William ranting about multi-sub-atomic-particle physicists uninventing the wheel.)

Sweet, you saved me the trouble.

Just three dimensions infected with law makers.


Sincerely,


William McCormick

Originally Posted by alexdj1983

Hey, guys! Fresh meat here, just joined the forum.

Anyway, I've been reading up on 4th dimension and have few questions about it.

So is there any other proof or does our world give us any hints that there really is a 4th spacial dimension. Or is it just a mathematical theory and there are not evidents of it in real world.
Second question: Let's say that we can prove for 100% that there is a 4th spacial dimension, now is that knowledge in anyway useful to us. I mean, can we potentially use this 4th dimension in anyway. For example, could we "transport" 3d objects through 4th dimension?

Share your thoughts or ideas...

There is no proof whatever of the existence of a 4th spatial dimension.

There is responsible speculation, primarily among string theorists, of many more (11 or so depending on the which speculation you are looking at) spatial dimensions. Those additional dimensions are supposedly "curled up" and not detectable in the usual course of everyday life.