The expansion of the universe, evidence of a 4th spatial dimension?

[pondzo]

in order to explain the big bang theory and the expansion of space itself, people often draw upon the analogy of blowing air into a balloon and the 2 dimensional surface of the balloon expanding. isn't the 2-D balloon surface expanding in the third dimension, since the volume of the balloon is increasing. so in the same way couldn't the expansion of three dimensional space be indicative of the existence of a 4th spatial dimension (not temporal ) ?

 

[Jimmy]

See https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=261161#post1899468

4. to understand that something can be curved without there being an extra dimension---part of the mental exercise is to picture the balloon surface as all there is, there is no inside the balloon and there is no outside---only the balloon surface exists.

The balloon analogy is just that- an analogy. It's not perfect and has limitations. The entire thread is worth perusing.

 

[pondzo]

thanks for the link jimmy, ill try and get through the thread, but it is quite lengthy!

 

[phinds]

thanks for the link jimmy, ill try and get through the thread, but it is quite lengthy!

Try the link in my signature

 

[Jimmy]

Thanks, phinds. I wish I would have remembered your page. Much more concise than that long thread. :thumbs:

 

[pondzo]

Thank you for the link phinds, much quicker than the other thread, although the other thread has some interesting content.

i have had this toy for a while exactly the same as this:
is the increase of the distance between the (inside layer) orange dots at all analogical to the expansion of space?

 

[phinds]

Thank you for the link phinds, much quicker than the other thread, although the other thread has some interesting content.

i have had this toy for a while exactly the same as this:
is the increase of the distance between the (inside layer) orange dots at all analogical to the expansion of space?

I can't see it very well, it all moves so fast, but yeah, it does look like metric expansion if you consider only the dots.