Is Time the Key to Understanding Dimensions?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Outlandish_Existence
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Dimensions
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between time and dimensions, particularly whether time is essential for understanding spatial dimensions. Participants explore theoretical concepts related to dimensions, time, and their interplay in defining events and points in space-time.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that if all three dimensions are considered as one, it could be conceptualized as a straight line capable of movement in all directions, raising questions about the role of time in accessing and observing dimensions.
  • Another participant challenges the initial premise, indicating confusion and suggesting that the idea of three dimensions equating to one is logically flawed.
  • A different viewpoint emphasizes that while a line can represent multiple dimensions, time is proposed as the fourth dimension, potentially visualized as a hypercube or another directional aspect.
  • One participant explains that three coordinates are necessary to specify a point in space, while events require both space and time coordinates, indicating a distinction between spatial and temporal dimensions.
  • Time is described as a complex concept that is closely linked to space, matter, and change, suggesting that understanding time is crucial for grasping the nature of dimensions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of understanding and agreement on the concepts discussed. Some find the initial question confusing, while others attempt to clarify the relationship between dimensions and time. Multiple competing views remain, and the discussion does not reach a consensus.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations in the clarity of definitions and assumptions regarding dimensions and time. The discussion reflects a range of interpretations and conceptualizations without resolving the underlying complexities.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring theoretical physics, the nature of dimensions, and the philosophical implications of time in relation to space.

Outlandish_Existence
Messages
56
Reaction score
0
When all 3 dimensions are one... isn't it just one straight line capable of going in all directions? Example : One could take a straight line and point out into space at any direction, twist it, turn it, do flips, wave it around etc.

And do all 3 dimensions permit for time, or does time allow for the dimensions to be accessed and observed? (my understanding of time is motion resulting in the change of energy, or the change of energy resulting in motion)
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
You lost me in the first 5 words of your question. Please rephrase your question.
 
actionintegral said:
You lost me in the first 5 words of your question.
I was okay with the first five. The sixth word, however, created the logical fallacy 3=1. That's where I stopped reading.
 
When all 3 dimensions are one...
doeent make sens!
isn't it just one straight line capable of going in all directions
but then its more than one line its multiple lines all going in diferent dimentions

ie a line going one way is already in 2 dimentions (a point is 1 dimensional) a diferent direction causes it to either stay in 2 dimentions or split into three.


Time is the fourth dimension IE Hypercube or just another direction
 
Outlandish_Existence said:
Does anyone have any suggestions?
In space, you need three coordinates to specify a point. That point is a combination of three mutually perpendicular vectors. If two points have the same three co-ordinates in a particular reference frame, they are the same point in space.

Events, however, require space and time co-ordinates. Two events can have the same space coordinates but not be the same events. If two events have the same space and time coordinates, then they will be the same events or the same point in space-time.

That is all we mean by space having three dimensions and space-time having four dimensions.

Time is a difficult thing to define. The concept of time is inextricably tied to space, matter and change.

AM
 
Thank you very much Andrew. Appreciation is of the up most. I need a better understanding of these things. The more I grasp of every field, the more discoveries I make. This helped a bunch. My imagination thanks you for lending it some more creative and colorful juice to blend :)
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

High School What Is the Fourth Dimension and How Does It Work?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
Undergrad Yet another spacetime-bending layman question
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
High School The Fourth Dimension: A Measurement of Aging
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
Undergrad Geodesics using 2 Variables: Time & Radius from Mass
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
High School Moving in the 4th Dimension -- Does Time have a velocity?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
Graduate Are spatial and temporal dimensions interchangeable?
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Undergrad Relativity, time, and quantum mechanics
  • · Replies 47 ·
2
Replies
47
Views
4K
Undergrad Is the inertia of a massive object the result of gravity wave generation?
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
High School Can We Discover Multiple Time Dimensions Like Space?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
Graduate Discussion of "Two-Time Physics" (I. Bars) and its potential cosmological implications
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K