terrasect, traveling using the fourth dimension

Discussion of theories involving time as a dimension, time travel, relativity, branes, and so on, usually applying to the "real" universe which we live in.

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terrasect, traveling using the fourth dimension

Postby papernuke » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:33 am

you could travel faster than light if you used the fourth dimension. if you somehow got into the fourth dimension, you are connected to all of the lower dimensions, so if you for example want to go somewhere in the 3rd dimension, you could travel there instantly, which is faster than light
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Postby houserichichi » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:48 am

Think about this for a second. A piece of paper is two dimensional (for sake of argument). Suspend it in a vacuum. Draw a point on the piece of paper. Now draw another point somewhere else on the paper. If you want to get from point A to point B in two dimensions you have to draw a line (on the paper) to connect them. If you live in 3D (inside the whole vacuum) to get from A to B you can draw a line from A to B but that line can traverse anywhere within the whole vacuum. Since the length of the line on the paper between A and B is necessarily shorter than or equal to the length of the line through the vacuum, it actually takes MORE time to go between two points in 2D when we travel through the higher dimension, 3D.

This extends to switching our 2D paper to 3D space, and our 3D vacuum to a 4D vacuum (or something just like it).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please!
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Postby Nick » Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:27 pm

Your right as ever, house ;)

The misunderstanding is that 4d space is still space, and it still takes time to pass through it.
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Postby houserichichi » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:16 pm

I assumed, however, that space was flat. If it's not then my argument doesn't necessarily hold. I should have included that.
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Postby Nick » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:19 pm

houserichichi wrote:I assumed, however, that space was flat. If it's not then my argument doesn't necessarily hold. I should have included that.

But it still wouldn't be instaneous, you would still have to move through 4d space, which still would take time... since its space, the same laws of relativity apply.
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Postby houserichichi » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:38 pm

That's right...but sometimes it would be faster to move "out" into the third dimension to get between points on a sheet of paper faster. For instance, if the sheet of paper was replaced with a bowl (the surface of which is 2D), then to draw a line straight from A to B on opposite ends of the bowl would be longer than to just draw a "straight" line from A to B through 3-space. If you can't visualize that one I'll draw pictures.

But yes, no such thing as instantaneous motion.
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Postby Keiji » Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:36 am

Of course, as many people here have realised, even if it were possible to move through the fourth dimension, we would return flipped into antimatter, and would promptly cause a cataclysmic explosion.

So, we'd have to find a way to rotate in 4D as well as simply move through it.
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