Visualizing the Fourth Dimension
Do you ever remember reading a pop-up book? Each page presented a fairly simple three dimensional scene of the story, and moving between pages brought you to an entirely new scene, usually with time moving forward. Time is often considered as the 4th additional dimension, but there is of course more than one way to look at it. Time is a way for us to visualize moving between the three dimensions.
Without time, three-dimensional space is static and unmoving. Without turning the pages of the hypothetical pop-up book of the universe, everything is stuck in one place. If you skip enough pages, or through time, everything is in a completely different spot. However, in our universe, time cannot just simply be skipped (as far as we know). It moves smoothly from one moment to the next. However, what if we had another way to move through the 4th dimension?
One way to visualize the 4th dimension is to think of a room with simple decorations. This room would be a normal 3D space. Now think of another area of the same size, such as another room decorated differently, or located someplace outdoors. If you had some way to switch instantly between these two areas, you would be moving from one 3D space to another. Instead of moving through time as a 4th dimension, which we normally do, you would move through 4th dimensional space. You’re flipping the page of a very detailed pop-up book.
Besides just visualizing the space, here’s an example for visualizing 4D objects. Think back to your original room, but with a couch. Then think of the next space that you came up with, but the couch from the first room is in the same area. It’s the same couch, same area, and it extends through more than one 3D space, giving it a 4th dimensional depth.
If you’re curious and want to look further into this topic, I would recommend looking into a game called Miegakure. There are also plenty of videos to look at online, and I personally find it much easier to understand this topic from videos instead of text.
Miranda
Staff Writer, Our Science
Without time, three-dimensional space is static and unmoving. Without turning the pages of the hypothetical pop-up book of the universe, everything is stuck in one place. If you skip enough pages, or through time, everything is in a completely different spot. However, in our universe, time cannot just simply be skipped (as far as we know). It moves smoothly from one moment to the next. However, what if we had another way to move through the 4th dimension?
One way to visualize the 4th dimension is to think of a room with simple decorations. This room would be a normal 3D space. Now think of another area of the same size, such as another room decorated differently, or located someplace outdoors. If you had some way to switch instantly between these two areas, you would be moving from one 3D space to another. Instead of moving through time as a 4th dimension, which we normally do, you would move through 4th dimensional space. You’re flipping the page of a very detailed pop-up book.
Besides just visualizing the space, here’s an example for visualizing 4D objects. Think back to your original room, but with a couch. Then think of the next space that you came up with, but the couch from the first room is in the same area. It’s the same couch, same area, and it extends through more than one 3D space, giving it a 4th dimensional depth.
If you’re curious and want to look further into this topic, I would recommend looking into a game called Miegakure. There are also plenty of videos to look at online, and I personally find it much easier to understand this topic from videos instead of text.
Miranda
Staff Writer, Our Science
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