PHeller
New Reader
9/9/08 12:27 p.m.
Extra dimensions confuse me. I just can't wrap my head around the idea... I don't even know what I'm thinking about.
I know its way more complicated than alternate realities, and not nearly as sci-fi.
Can anyone explain in lay mans terms what an extra dimension is, and not in a sci-fi way? Like how an extra dimension would effect me as a human being?
I sub out all my oddball theoretical physics thinking to my friend, and he says there are 6 dimensions because then the math all works out.
That being the case, those two extra dimensions are effecting you now. I look at it like a MegaSquirt map table. We use 2 dimensions because that's all the memory we have: MAP and RPM. You go into the table with MAP and RPM and come back with VE. Some factory ECU's use 3 dimensions: MAP, RPM and TPS. You could add a 4th and 5th dimensions of, say, IAT, CLT and a 6th of acceleration, then go into the table with all that and get your VE.
Anyway, just remember that the universe exists in the Frequency Domain, but our perceptions are in the Time Domain, and then it all starts making sense.
Guess I'll have to catch the news tomorrow morning to see if the world ended and I can stay home. Go Frogs!!
Extra dimension is that nook behind the water heater in the wall of your house where you can store valuables.
Now appearing at a rift in space-time near you!
better rendered I hope!!!
PHeller wrote:
Extra dimensions confuse me. I just can't wrap my head around the idea... I don't even know what I'm thinking about.
I know its way more complicated than alternate realities, and not nearly as sci-fi.
Can anyone explain in lay mans terms what an extra dimension is, and not in a sci-fi way? Like how an extra dimension would effect me as a human being?
I don't know if this will help or not, but it is an interesting albeit not too complicated read.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/dimensions.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070203103355.htm
PHeller wrote:
Extra dimensions confuse me.
Yup. I still haven't wrapped my brain around three. Last thing I need is some extra ones to worry about.
PHeller wrote:
Extra dimensions confuse me. I just can't wrap my head around the idea... I don't even know what I'm thinking about.
I know its way more complicated than alternate realities, and not nearly as sci-fi.
Can anyone explain in lay mans terms what an extra dimension is, and not in a sci-fi way? Like how an extra dimension would effect me as a human being?
You're not alone. I can interact quite well with three spacial dimensions, but going beyond that makes my head hurt.
PHeller
New Reader
9/9/08 1:09 p.m.
so is the Calabi-Yau Object one that changes shape no matter what plane you view it from?
I think of it like portions of the light spectrum that we can't see. They are there, but I can't see them. And, there is also the possibility that my observation would alter their state anyway. I'm certain it would alter mine.
I've always figured higher dimensions were the nature in which the previous dimension changes. And/or they're what happens when you curve a dimension on its axis. But I am not a mathemetician/scientist. I can't comprehend them spacially, but I figure beyond the time dimension, you get possibility, and beyond that you get probability.
Hmm... you can represent a higher spatial dimension in multiple ways. If you think time.
Imagine you have a static 3-D image of geometric shapes floating in space (spheres, cubes, etc). You can take a 2-D picture by slicing it across an axis. You'd get a picture of 2-d geometric shapes (circles, squares, etc.) You could make a video where that axis slides. In 2-D it would look like circles and squares that expand and shrink. But in 3-D they're static.
Presumably, the same could be done in 3-D. Picture a video of geometric shapes like spheres and cubes expanding, contracting, sliding sideways, disappearing, etc. In a 4th spatial dimension, that would be a static image.
That could be expanded to 4-D. When the 4-D slice was adjusted over time... well... to us viewing 3-D, there would be numerous geometric shapes appearing, changing, and disappearing that never appear in 3-D, but could potentially appear in 3-D. They're all possibilities.
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
SVreX
SuperDork
9/9/08 9:00 p.m.
Salanis wrote:
I've always figured higher dimensions were the nature in which the previous dimension changes. And/or they're what happens when you curve a dimension on its axis. But I am not a mathemetician/scientist. I can't comprehend them spacially, but I figure beyond the time dimension, you get possibility, and beyond that you get probability.
Hmm... you can represent a higher spatial dimension in multiple ways. If you think time.
Imagine you have a static 3-D image of geometric shapes floating in space (spheres, cubes, etc). You can take a 2-D picture by slicing it across an axis. You'd get a picture of 2-d geometric shapes (circles, squares, etc.) You could make a video where that axis slides. In 2-D it would look like circles and squares that expand and shrink. But in 3-D they're static.
Presumably, the same could be done in 3-D. Picture a video of geometric shapes like spheres and cubes expanding, contracting, sliding sideways, disappearing, etc. In a 4th spatial dimension, that would be a static image.
That could be expanded to 4-D. When the 4-D slice was adjusted over time... well... to us viewing 3-D, there would be numerous geometric shapes appearing, changing, and disappearing that never appear in 3-D, but could potentially appear in 3-D. They're all possibilities.
I've thought of it that way as well, but recently I'm re-considering.
The 2-D renderings are still 3-D. The paper has thickness, so does the ink. I can't actually eliminate the third dimension in a 2-D rendering, only give a 3-D representation of what it might look like in 2-D.
Everything I understand has 3 dimensions, and can't be related in any other way. Or maybe it would be better stated I can't relate any other way.
Maybe the next dimension happens when we evolve.
SVreX
SuperDork
9/9/08 9:22 p.m.
Maybe the next dimension has something to do with God.
Ooops- different thread.
Is it wednesday yet in France? Am I dead and just having a Wiley Coyote moment? Time (and space) will tell.
GregTivo wrote:
Is it wednesday yet in France? Am I dead and just having a Wiley Coyote moment? Time (and space) will tell.
Seriously. I'm dying to know if I'm dead yet.
wreckerboy wrote:
However, knowing if the world is going to end by Thursday or just BEGIN to end on Wednesday in a process that takes four years is important to my budget planning process.
hmmm and lets see if its the whole 4 year thing that kinda falls into the whole Maya thing...great nothing like proving ancient civilizations theories about the end world to be correct.
There is such a thing as a tesseract?
Finally, I get to use something from that God-awful book.
First beam fired, earth still in existence :\
http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2008/PR08.08E.html
Chris_V
SuperDork
9/10/08 7:44 a.m.
EastCoastMojo wrote:
GregTivo wrote:
Is it wednesday yet in France? Am I dead and just having a Wiley Coyote moment? Time (and space) will tell.
Seriously. I'm dying to know if I'm dead yet.
http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
I guess I have to get dressed then
Fritz_the_Cat wrote:
The only one on that list that I would miss is the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
+1. I'm just another big ugly American.
As of 9AM EDT 9/10 the planet is still spinnin' as far as I can tell.
The French make a nice toast