Parea of Curiosity: November 2014

So uni is over now and ive got some spare time to write another post or two. I watched the movie Interstellar yesterday and one aspect of the movie which I thought would be very interesting to dig deeper into is the concept of dimensions. I remember once upon a time hearing Karl Kruszelnicki talk about dimensions and his explanation had me stumped. He pointed out that there are about 10 or 12 dimensions that scientists believe exist today. From memory he said he can get his head around seven of them, and continued to try and explain a few of them. Im pretty sure I understood four of them.. So ill try again and do a bit of reading see what I can recreate in terms we can all understand to an extent.

How many dimensions are there?

So a bit of a search reveals scientists believe there are currently about 10 dimensions which would completely explain our universe and every other universe out there (apparently). I might just list each one and do a bit of reading on it see how far we get. Seatbelts on, this might get a bit messy…

First dimension- Length

So this is nice and easy. Doubt I have to explain. Imagine a string that has no thickness. Its just a pure length.

Second dimension- Width

So now we add width to it. 2-D can be visualised as a flat image. Has a width and a length. Like a square.

Third dimension- Breadth

3D adds breadth or depth to the world. Think turning a square into a cube. Tadam! Three dimensions.

Fourth dimension- Time

Smashed it! 3 down 7 to go. The fourth dimension can be represented by time.

Initially Isaac Newton thought time was constant for all objects. This stuck until Einstein developed the special theory of relativity. This theory brings together classical mechanics and electromagnetism. So Einsteins theory of relativity points out that time isn’t constant between all objects. In summary as an object approaches the speed of light, time slows and mass increases. This means if you were travelling the speed of light, your rocket would be infinitely heavy, and time would slow to a stop. So this theory of relativity measures time as a coordinate as well in a larger geometry which we call spacetime. It can be visualised by imagining a spaceman who hops into a rocket and zooms around the universe at close to the speed of light. To him he might spend what feels like 5 years in space, but because he was travelling so fast, time was warped and when he gets back to the earth he might find 500 years have passed. The faster you travel relative to the earth, the more the time difference between your spaceship and the earth are warped.

5th and 6th dimensions- Infinite worlds (past, present and future theories)

Ok so now were screwed. Those 4 are easy. Now we get onto the abstract stuff which doesn’t make any sense because the concepts are completely new to us so we have no way of visualising or comprehending them. Who the hell thinks up these extra dimensions if theyre so abstract, and how do we know theyre not just talking crap? Scientists and Physicists goal in life is to develop a grand unified theory. This represents a model of the universe that can be used to explain everything. They crunch ridiculous numbers and often end up with recurring blanks in their equations which hint at unknown elements we don’t know about or cant see/measure. One example is looking at atoms and trying to break down those building blocks into their smallest packages. They have discovered all kinds of tiny tiny particles with ridiculous types of energy simply by repeating experiments and finding that the small energy discrepancies are repeatable so an additional unseen particle would fill the gap perfectly. This is similar to the reason extra dimensions are created. You cant see them or feel them or taste them, but their existence makes your models and calculations a lot more accurate. So as abstract as they might be, number crunchers feel they exist as their inclusion turns jibberish equation models of the universe that don’t work into perfectly sensical models. As for how they try and explain or express these extra dimensions im not sure yet. I will have to go for a big dig now and see what I can get.

The fifth and sixth dimensions apparently deal with the future and the past. Linked to the 'many-world theories' if you want to dig deeper. They delve a bit into the concepts of quantum physics. One of the main elements of quantum physics is the idea that there are infinite possible futures in front of you. Imagine youre in the matrix and theres a line of choices in front of you.I guess it can be simplified as many different splits in the path, except it’s the same path. One path is the continuation of the world in the case that you decide to cross the road (maybe a truck comes and hits you?), another path is the continuation of the world in the case you decide to wait a moment and the bus zooms past. This is very simplified. Pretty much the concept states that there are infinite different worlds existing at each point in time. As soon as you make a choice and do something, that one becomes ‘reality’ and the rest disappear. Then instantly the same happens again, so oyu continuously have all possible options in front of you, and as soon as you choose one, that becomes the real one and all other options ahead refresh to reflect the past.

How does this make any sense? Quantum physics deals with tiny particles in atoms, as well as electrons and other basic building blocks. Experiments (not sure if mind experiments or physical ones) have shown that electrons have a spin to them. It has somehow been shown that electrons zoom around the atom nucleus. However, rather than orbiting like a planet around the sun, the model has been developed that the electron is everywhere in this orbit at the same time. Kind of like a shell, or a force field around the nucles. When we try and look at the electrons, they quickly assume a single position. So this kind of reflects the idea of all future paths co-existing until you actually look or make a choice, when one single option is selected and becomes reality, then all futures refresh to reflect this state and this repeats.

So I guess this idea kind of goes beyond the time dimension, by in a way materialising the past, present and future into a single model. Kind of trippy to really understand, but I think ive managed to sort of comprehend it and explain it. So the model would be all co-existing future worlds laid out in front of you, and the ‘present’ being a single observation of all the infinite different possible worlds at each point in time… and I guess the past being just a linear time progression representing the choices you have made..

That wasn’t too bad J Im still half with us here…

So if you could learn how to take advantage and travel around the fifth and sixth dimensions.. you could travel into the future and back in time pretty readily...

7th, 8th, 9th and 10th dimensions (parallel universes)

I have combined these into one heading because none of them make enough sense to be distinguishable from each other..

So the 7th, 8th and 9th dimensions deal with parallel universes. Number 5 and 6 introduced us to the concept of all the available realities being there until you make a particular choice, then that being the only real one. 7/8/9 deal with the idea that you making a choice doesnt mean all the other options disappear from existence forever. It deals with the idea that there are 'parallel universes' for each choice. So while you chose to stop and wait for the light to go green, in another universe you stepped out in front of the bus, and that scenario played out as a reality in another universe somewhere. Turns out there was also a parallel universe where you sprinted out across the road and made it past the bus safely. There was even a universe where you just did a weird spin at the lights, everyone looked at you funny, then you moonwalked across the road when the light went green.... and that particular reality played out until you died... and beyond. But it also happens that in the reality where you did the sweet spin at the lights, at that point the infinite choices that laid out as to what you would do next also played out... forever....

So I guess a good way to visualise mastery of these dimensions would be to think of the matrix. When theyre in the matrix, he thinks I want a gun, and from some parallel universe rows and rows of guns appear in front of them. In my mind mastery of these dimensions would mean you control everything and anything. You would be a god. You can move along the dimensions' planes of the parallel universes at will, therefore playing god and doing absolutely anything and everything. Tripping out yet?

The tenth universe, as best I could understand it, was a unification, or a sum of all parallel universes and their outcomes. So all the possibilities somehow combined into this 'ultimate reality'. I dont really know what goes on here... Its too much for me... but I guess you... nah I dont know..

Conclusion

I imagine it's hard to prove something when nobody understand what youre talking about.. As we develop the technology to more accurately examine things, some models get validated, some get combined, some get rejected.

In the past there have been plenty of mathematical models developed hundreds of years ago that can now be proved accurate with our technology and equipment. Maybe in the future we will have ways of testing these dimension theories. But at the moment they live in the world of complex mathematics.. which I completely ignored when making this post. But the truth is, a lot of the theory ive posted above is actually written in jibberish like this:

KK Theory Equations