Interacting with the fourth dimension?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Bullhead
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Dimension
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 1K views
Bullhead
If a globe is representative of the third dimension, what does a spinning globe represent? As we move through space and time, are we not interacting within the fourth dimension?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Bullhead said:
If a globe is representative of the third dimension, what does a spinning globe represent? As we move through space and time, are we not interacting within the fourth dimension?
Yes, but so what? A point on a sphere (a globe) can be described by three coordinates. If the sphere is spinning, you need three coordinates to locate the spatial location of the point, and a time coordinate to identify the specific time.