Bows and Arrows in 4d

Ideas about how a world with more than three spatial dimensions would work - what laws of physics would be needed, how things would be built, how people would do things and so on.

Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby anderscolingustafson » Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:18 pm

One thing about a 4d bow would be that the wooden part would be a half sphere wile the string would be a circle. The arrow would probably need to spin in a way that would make it somewhat mimic the shape of a 3d electron with a sort of spherical orbit. I wander though how the feathers on the 4d bow would need to be arranged to make it spin in the most stable way. I also wander how a 4d life form would put a bow together with the extra dimension.
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby Keiji » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:37 am

anderscolingustafson wrote:One thing about a 4d bow would be that the wooden part would be a half sphere wile the string would be a circle.


I think you mean the string would be a disc.

The arrow would probably need to spin in a way that would make it somewhat mimic the shape of a 3d electron with a sort of spherical orbit.


It really shouldn't need to spin at all...

Also. A 3D bow would still work perfectly fine in 4D - it would just be possibly a little difficult to hold. Nothing exciting, though.
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby anderscolingustafson » Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:01 pm

I think you mean the string would be a disc.


Yes that is what I mean.

It really shouldn't need to spin at all...


I don't see how it could remain stable without spinning and 3d arrows need to spin and with another dimension they should have even more need to spin.
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby Keiji » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:13 am

anderscolingustafson wrote:3d arrows need to spin


Why?
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby PWrong » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:19 am

It sounds plausible that spinning would make the arrow stable. Something like the gyroscopic effect I guess?

Also. A 3D bow would still work perfectly fine in 4D - it would just be possibly a little difficult to hold. Nothing exciting, though.


Not only that, but something similar to a 4D bow could potentially work in 3D. You just need a sheet of rubber with a fixed boundary, a bit like a trampoline. Just pinch the rubber around the arrow, pull back and let go.
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby anderscolingustafson » Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:43 am

The only problem though with using the same kind of bow as we use in 3d in 4d is that sheets can be tied into knots in 4d but strings can't so the ends of the string would still need to be sheets.
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Re: Bows and Arrows in 4d

Postby PWrong » Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:35 am

Good point. There would be some other way to attach the end of a string to something though.
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