Time, the fourth dimension. How many of you belive that time could be considered the 4th Dimensin, and if you believe in Time as another dimension, do you belive that there could be more undiscovered dimensions. I’m not the best with mathematics, but I can handle a little if you can give conclusive evidence to prove that Time Does Exist.
Time is not the fourth dimension. It’s not even a dimension, really…
But do you believe that Time Does Exist?
I believe there is a 5th Dimension. It was a mediocre '60s rock band 
Actually, I don’t believe time exists.
Actually, I’m still undecided. (I do have alot of “time” to decide this, however.) LOL
I accept the explanation of Time as the 4th dimension. Einstein seemed to describe the universe very well with 3 dimensions of space and 1 of time. Time is a major player in what seems like every equation used to describe the universe. But I don’t have a concrete piece of proof for this abstract concept to convince you.
As far as there being other dimensions, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for it. But String Theory may have some interesting possibilities (tiny curled up dimensions within the 3 dimensions that we’re familiar with).
Just from a non-scientific approach; surely time does exist … given that it is merely a human concept. I think it’s kind of a metaphor for life. It can only be marked by something that changes. The thing that elapses between something being in one state and being in another.
I’m not sure of the definition of “dimension” in this context, but isn’t it simply an extra qualification of “where” something is … we’ve got the 3 spacial dimensions, and we add time as a 4th because something isn’t always in the same 3-dimensional place.
Presumably, if everything were frozen to absolute zero, then time would cease to exist, since nothing could be measured to be changing.
Good question, toonerama!
I do think of time as a dimension, i.e. “a scale along which I can measure change”.
Our sense of three-dimensional space is an intrinsic function of the way our minds are wired, and is one element of our perception of identity. Even if we have two identical objects - identical to all our senses of vision, sound etc - we can distinguish them in terms of position. We have three ways of doing this - the left-right axis, the up-down axis, and the near-far axis.
But as an extension to our hard-wired sense of identity, we need to have a sense of transition. If your cat moves from the floor to the bed, you regard it as the same cat even though it can occupy two different positions. To accommodate this, you need to invoke the notion of time.
In this sense, time is the label which the human mind gives to its awareness of identity beyond spatial consistency. Hell of a sentence, huh? But it does work. If you didn’t think an object, such as your cat, could move through time, then you would have to consider the data - one cat on the floor and one cat on the bed - and conclude you had two cats.
[ BTW The concept of ‘Identity’ is not confined to animate or living things. ]
You would also have to accept that two cats could occupy one and the same spatial co-ordinates. Think about it: suppose there is a prized sun-bathing spot on the foor. Tabby likes to sit there in the morning, and Kitty likes to sit there (in the exact same spot) in the evening. Without time as a dimension, then you would have to consider the two cats as occupying the same space. This also runs counter to our sense of identity.
Many people are reluctant to regard time as a dimension, and for some the reason is that we seem to lack the control over it that we have with the three spatial dimensions. You can move your cat anywhere in the room, but you have no way to move it along the time dimension. We don’t seem able to move backwards along the time dimension at all. This fact has recently proved very frustrating to many voters in Florida.
But these limitations are characteristics of the dimension - not reasons for doubting its existence. There are some things you can’t do in 3-D space either, but you accept the 3 dimensions exist.
Time, and the concept of dimension in general, is a mental construct used to understand Stuff. In that regard, it is merely a matter of whether or not deeming time to be a dimension is helpful to the understanding you are trying to attain.
One thing to keep in mind about physics is that all of physics (and a large portion of mathematics, as well) has as its purpose making things easier. If you treat time in a similar way to how you treat length, width, and depth, it makes many equations a lot simpler. This also serves to answer the question of whether there’s other dimensions: If it makes your life easier, then sure, you can say that there’s more. String theory, for instance, a theory designed to unify General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, is simplest to describe in terms of eleven or more dimensions. Experimental evidence has not yet been observed for these extra dimensions, so you could consider them “undiscovered”.
From what i’ve been able to discern, time is something that human beings can only comprehend on a few levels. Perhaps it’s a fourth dimension; perhaps it’s not. The main problem that faces us in understanding time is that we are all at its mercy. I believe it was Einstein (thought i could be completely and utterly wrong) who said that, to a six year old, a period of three months could seem like an eternity,whereas to even a seventeen-year-old, three months can fly by like no time at all. In short, time, and how quickly it flies by, is based upon the age of the individual contemplating it. I am only seventeen, so although time flies by far more quickly than it once did, I realize that i’m not really one to talk when it comes to perception of time as life goes on. But anyway, like i was saying, human beings are so entirely subsceptible to time that we’re a bit of a rat in a maze when it comes to understanding it. Around the age of 73 or 75, i will have reached the average life span of the human race, and beyond then, who knows what else. I’m entirely sure my perception of time will be completely different by this point. Point is, whereas we can take something close to an outsider’s perspective on the first three dimensions, the fourth is something that has defined our lives for so long (whether aware of it or not) that it’s exceedingly difficult to form any real theory on it as to wh ether or not it’s a dimension, or something real, or what have you. and hey, it’s my first post. the people rejoice.
-HP Ellison
I’ve never had a problem with time as the fourth dimension. Jerry Seinfeld put it really well:
We do this all the time. Even science does it in a way, by using “light years” as a distance.
Lewis Carroll made much of time being a human concept and not existing in the universe, and several posters said as much, but I’m not happy with that. Certainly the heavenly bodies move. The Earth revolves around the sun in its daily rotation, etc. Of course, our measure of that is a human concept. But that’s just our measure. Time itself, although an abstract concept, to my mind is not a human concept. Stars, planets, etc. are rotating and revolving, and also evolving in an expanding universe. This, to me, is why time is the 4th dimension.
Now explain to me why that is only a human concept and not an actuality.
Not to mention that the universe was happily doing things for billions of years without any humans around at all to perceive time or to question whether time existed.
Depends on your reference frame, C! A truck driver might very easily announce over the CB that s/he gets off work in “around 3 miles.”