What is the fourth dimension?

[benylor]

It does not have to be time!

You're going by the cliched model of x,y,z,t which sci-fi dribbles about all the time, but this is not accurate. You could easily, as was already mentioned, have the fourth dimension be R, G or B - or, say, T (temperature), H (humidity), P (pressure), or any other quantity. You could theoretically have it as another distance - or, you could have no distance dimensions at all and go by temp, humid and press if you want. All it needs to be a dimension is a quantity orthogonal to the dimensions already present.

If want to look at conventional Spacetime then, yes, time is the fourth by convention. Come to think of it, you were probably just talking about Spacetime anyway.

 

[Manhattan2112]

THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT! You sir, are my hero!

 

[wwjdftw]

I don't know but wikipedia does:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension

All will bow to the Wikipedia

Then catch a steel toed boot to the face when some random jackass edits it >.<

 

[mandrilltiger]

It's time.
This is a site that explains it quite clearly.

http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/txt/al.html

 

[sln333]

Definitely time. Physics seems to say this, and from there it's more theoretical about dimensions five and up.

 

[FalloutJack]

Since the beginning of time travel (H.G. Wells), to...right about now, time has been regarded as the fourth dimension and alternate space the fifth. (The acception being maybe an episode of The Twilight Zone, but no worries there, because they screwed around with at least thirteen dimensions as is.) Even in something like Dr. Who, you have subtle examples of following this line of thinking. TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Time preceeding alternate space. That's just nuances in fiction, though. I refer to H.G. Wells more when talking the actual theoretical science since the man practically invented time travel. The notion that time is the direction of every object's duration is brilliant, to say the least.

 

[bluepilot]

It is the place where your keys go when you loose them

em, in all seriousness, it is a complex mathematical concept, not esentially time as such, but a kind of space beyound the 3rd D...like casting geometrical shadows from each angle of the cube to the point where they meet each other.

 

[Blaze the Dragon]

I think that time is better represented as +n dimensions, n being the number of temporal dimensions being listed. Therefore, our perception is of 3+1 dimensional space, with 3 dimensions of space and 1 of time. So the 4th dimension would be spatial, and as others have said, would be the land of the tesseracts, which can be quite fun if you can perceive them. Also, a 4+1 dimensional creature would theoretically be able to pass through objects in our perception by simply moving around them in the 4th dimension. They could also not only see through any 3-D object, but also view it from every angle, including inside it, at once from one perspective.

 

[dont_blink]

i am the forth dimension.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

the fourth dimension if time, you have 3 dimentions to define position (tridimentional space) and the forth is necesary to define the position in a particular momment.

 

[evilartist]

It's Time. The fifth dimension is what I'm asking about.

I guess the fifth dimension is the Twilight Zone.

 

[Jonci]

All of those of you who say it is time and only time, you are wrong. The fourth dimension is anything that can be measured and put as a coordinate. Example: the first three dimensions could be x, y, and z. The fourth could be an object's r color value, the fifth, the g value, the sixth, the b value (as colors are designated in some computer programs). It could also be the time since a particle/object was last altered physically, chemically, etc.

But in the same way, time could be defined as the first dimension, consciousness the second, potential energy the third, and x,y,z values after that. You need to be more specific in your questions and answers.

I think everyone is talking about spacial dimension, in which the fourth dimension is considered the movement on the Time axis.

 

[1gremlyn1]

In physics, it's time

 

[OddOzZy666]

It's Time. The fifth dimension is what I'm asking about.

If The Twilight zone is correct...alternate universe where anything can happen

 

[Macgyvercas]

First Dimension: Length
Second Dimension: Width
Third Dimension: Depth
Fourth Dimension: Time

Any questions?

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[ThreeWords]

It's Time. The fifth dimension is what I'm asking about.

Ten filth dimension is the measure of awesomeness.

3D Volume = width x length x height
5D volume = width x length x height x age x awesomeness

I may be young and slim, but my 5D volume is infinite

[sup]As is the 5D volume of anyone who understands this...[/sup]

 

[tom919]

Yeah definatly time here's a boggling one for you String Theory (look it up) suggests the strings that makes up all particles exisist on the 11th dimension.... So I ask you whats on the other 7?

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Time is supposed to be the forth dimension and it took you over 600 posts to get your revenge your worse than Hamlet at getting revenge.

 

[Axolotl]

Excuse me one moment.

"What is the fourth dimension?"

Less than a thimble-full of iodine divides the intellectual from the imbecile .. of which phenomenon I shall forthwith attempt a demonstration.

oh NO! William it's too BIG! William, stop it you're hurting me. Take it out! Take it OUT!

Do you feel anything?

"What is the fourth dimension?"

Can history then be said to have an arcitecture, Hinton? The notion is most glorious and most terrible.

"What is the fourth dimension?"

Sorry about that. seriously speaking it's time as far as our perception extends. (major cudos if anybody gets the reference though).