how many dimensions does our universe have?

Answer 1

According to String Theory, which is a good candidate for the Ultiamte Theory of the Universe, demands that the Universe have ten spatical dimensions and one dimensions of time, giving a total of 11 dimensions. The reason for this is mathematically, the four fundamental forces in the Universe, seem to unify, which is the ultimate goal of physics: unify the four forces.

The cool thing is, they only seem to unify with ten spatial dimensions. I see seem, because there is still too much to work out with String Theory to know if it is the correct theory.

You might be wondering why we aren't aware of the extra seven dimensions if they do exist. The reason: they are curled. Let me explain what that means.

Imagine looking at a clothesline. From afar, it looks like the clothesline only has two dimenions: you can either go left or right. Now when you move closer, you are able to see the third dimension of the line, which would allow say an ant to crawl around (up and down) as well as left and right. You couldn't see that dimension from afar because it is curled up and very small.

This is the same principle with the other seven dimensions. They are curled up, and can only be seen if we were able to probe to a small enough distance. This distance is actually a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter! That is way too small for us to be able to see today, and probably for quite some time.

There are some tricks though for getting a feel for 4 dimensions. You consider an example that relates 2-D to 3-D, and then apply that to relating 3-D to 4-D.

For example: imagine a table top is a 2-D Universe, and on that Universe lives a being shaped like a square. If you were above this 2-D plane and were to talk to the square, he would hear you, but not see you. If you decided to show him a sphere, would have to pass the sphere through his 2-D Universe. The only problem is, he wouldn't see the 3-D sphere. He would see at first a point, followed by a succession of circles that kept growing until you reached the mid-point of the sphere, which would be the biggest circle. Then as you continued to move the sphere through the plane, he would see a succession of circles that got smaller until he saw a point, and then nothing. The point is, he would only see cross sections of the sphere, which are circles.

Now apply that to our Universe. If a being were in the fourth dimension and tried to pass a hypersphere (a 4-D sphere) through our Universe, we would only be able to see cross sections of that hypersphere. What would we see? We would see a succession of 3-D spheres that kept growing, reached the largest size, and then shrunk back down to nothing! So, the cross section of a 4-D sphere is a 3-D sphere.

Here is another really cool example. Going back to the square being, let's say he had a safe. His safe would have four walls, in which one of the walls would act as a door. It would basically be a hollow square. Since there are four walls, a 2-D being in that Universe would have no chance at getting any money out of the safe without opening the door. However, you being in the third dimension above the 2-D plane, could simply reach in and grab the money coming from the top. It would be a complete magic trick to the square.

Similarily, a 4-D being could reach in our 3-D safe reaching in from the fourth dimension, and take our money without opening the door!

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

4

Answer 3

11 dimensions according to string theory till the time i have known it. Initally it proposed 10 dimensions to explain all mathematical results coming out. But this gave rise to 5 identical universes with differnet parameters. Adding 11 dimension synthesised it into a single uniform universe. Howvever the energy string is no longer a string with eleventh dimension but takes the form of a streched film.

Answer 4

The universe is a big place! We tend to notice dimensions that we can view. Besides height, width and length, time can be thought of as a fourth dimention. Modern science has proposed as many as 24 dimensions, however, based on new "string theories" developed for studying the creation of our universe.

Answer 5

There are four dimensions.
They are:
1. Length
2. Width
3. Depth
4. B.S.
lol sorry just kidding..just expressing my frustration at my inability to understand string theory. I recently saw a television prgram where they were saying that it was believed there were as many as 24 or more dimensions...but I was lost.

Answer 6

It's very complicated, but we aren't sure just how many dimensions there are. It seems that we have three, but some people believe there are more.

Answer 7

Until Albert came along, we satisfied ourselves with "Width", "Length", and "Height". He added "Time
as the "Fourth Dimension". Thats the only ones I
remember.

Answer 8

11 dimensions (string theory demands it)

Answer 9

till now 6 1st length,2nd breath,3dr height,4th time,5th temperature,& 6th Space in which these all exists !!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

That's beyond me,pal.