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science
understand
What is the best way to imagine extra dimensions?
scienceunderstand
scienceunderstand
Compesh is a question and answer (and debate) website, so before you make a debate, you better learn what an assertion is. I suppose you already know what a question is, and that you've typed it in the box. ;)
An assertion, is basically a statement you can make, that is either true or false.
Richer people have better health.
The question for that would be, Do richer people have better health?
And don't forget to make your assertion, match your question.
Below you will find an image where you can find a 4D object. Unlike Jeff Kay's answer, there is no 3D representation of a 4D object. Instead, my image shows a 2D representation of a 4D object.
You will see that whilst my answer makes perfect logical sense, your brain will still not be able to comprehend what exactly the 4D square (cube) shape would look like, because you have never experienced the 4th dimension for yourself. (You can use your brain to join up the dots of the faces.)
The reason why you cannot visualise the 4th dimension in your mind, is because if you was inside in a 1m² room that was literally full of water or custard, and you couldn't see anything else but that - you would not be able to imagine that any more objects can fit in the room. Except that they can - in the 4th dimension.
Astronomy and theoretical physics
Notice how for the 4th dimension, one blue square gets further away from you, and another one gets closer to you. In the 4th dimension, there is either
I need to confirm which one of the two possiblities the 4th are correct. (I will try to do this later this week.)
I've learnt something about wormholes that might help you visualise the 4th dimension better. I learnt that wormholes allow in space, allow people who travel through them end up in a completely new destination, as if they were portals. I asked, "If I watched a tv for an hour while you walked through it, would my time slow down, because you're going travelling through time at a faster rate than me?"
It is important to know and remember that the 4th dimension is time, and that time is a distance that we are all travelling through at different speeds. Because we are all moving so slow, we do not notice the difference of our time compared to other people's time. Everyone's time is unique.
His answer was this. "Time doesn't slow down for anyone. I travel through space walking through a wormhole, at the same rate than you do watching tv on Earth, or walking down the street."
"How?"
"Because space compresses."
"So you could use a wormhole to travel hundreds of miles, and I could walk 1 metre, in the same amount of time?"
"How?"
Imagine or get an A4 piece of paper and fold it half to make an A5 paper size. Us lot on Earth are walking on that. Remember that the 4th dimension is time, and time is a distance, and we are walking through it. We are walking from one side of the A5, our present, to the other side of the A5, our future.
Now what happens when someone travels through a wormhole to end up someone else in the universe, is that space compresses. If you was to fold up an A4 paper as if it was a fan, but keep it flat, and then hold both ends to compress it, that is a visual representation of space compressing.
So basically, you are walking the same distance when travelling through a wormhole, but because space is compressed, you get to your destination at the same time a person would if they were walking to a bus stop.
The Tessaract posted in the other answer, is a good spacial representation of time as a distance, not spacetime. Something is pushing us forward in time, and we don't know what it is. Do not expect us to understand the 4th dimension or time properly any time soon.
In the 4th dimension, this impossible object will be possible to make, even though it is a poor representation of a 4D object.