How many dimensions? 3 being physical space and the 4th being time so why do some physicists claim 10-11?

Question

What are the other dimensions they are talking about ? Dimensions 5 through 10 and in some cases 11 ?

What proof do they have to believe this ?

Personally it sounds like fabricated nonsense used as a scapegoat made up to make their theories work to keep their jobs/grants going and also as a means to save face from being embarrassed for not having answers to important questions.

I hate scams and this surely sounds like a scam to me.

Grrrr.

Answer 1

We observe four dimensions everyday, three spatial and time.
Time is called a dimension because it makes mathematical sense to do so.
But...theories such as string theory predict that the space we live in has in fact many more dimensions (frequently 10, 11 or 26), but that the universe measured along these additional dimensions is subatomic in size. As a result, we perceive only the three spatial dimensions that have macroscopic size.

This is not so strange as it sounds, which I'll show with an example. Imagine you are in an airplane, flying over sea. Seen from a height, the sea looks flat, two-dimensional. But when the plane looses height we start to perceive the waves, that move in a third direction we could see before.

The universe could be the same. Four macroscopic dimensions and a few more, hidden ones. We can only perceive them for instance, by the small effects their existence might have on subatomic particles.

Answer 2

These "dimensions" aren't real directions you can travel in. They're really mathematical constructs to make their equations work better.

For example, we can't move back and forth in time at will, but we still consider time a "dimension" on par with the three physical dimensions, because it's easy to consider them all the same for math. You may have heard that gravity bends "spacetime" - that is, it distorts time the same amount and way it distorts space. So it's easier to consider time just another dimension of space, so you can use the same equations.

They really don't have proof - at that point it's just mathematics. But it does have a use. For example, it was Einstein's thought-experiment about what happens if two spaceships approach each other near the speed of light, that led to his mathematical exploration and theory of relativity. Now that we know relativity, we can use it to make our space flights more accurate. If we didn't think about the math first, we would just assume that our instruments are just off by a fraction of a percent. If Einstein hadn't done his math first, the error would be too small for us to wonder if there's a mathematical explanation. But correcting for the error saves us a lot of worry on space flights.

A lot of physicists are working to the Grand Unified Theory, which is a name for a single theory that covers the actions of all forces and all particles. In the "GUT", each particle and force is just a special case of some super-object that has an easy mathematical explanation and can do everything. This 10-dimension plan (I've even seen up to 26) is a way of allowing superstring theory. Each superstring is a small object that vibrates in 10 or however many dimensions, and depending on how it vibrates, it acts like a different particle. Finding the GUT equation is the Holy Grail of physics, and it allows us to explain why our universe works (as opposed to how, which we pretty much have now).

We're at a crossroads like we were at the end of the 1800s. They figured every problem had been solved, except for one seemingly minor one known as the "ultraviolet catastrophe" - if you look at the math a certain way, it seems to say that objects radiate an infinite amount of energy. It was Max Planck solving this puzzle that brought on the entire field of quantum physics and in effect almost all of 20th-century physics.

Answer 3

The reason for this is all theory and based on string theory. Very complicated and so far the only theory to begin to tie in quantam mechanics(physics at a small level) to what we see around us(physics at a large level). In order for the believed string theory to exist, it requires many dimensions like 10 or 11. These dimensions are extremely small and curled up into wierd shapes that are almost impossible for a person to percieve .
There has been major developments about string theory over the past few years. To get a full explanation of what this means read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.

Answer 4

In our world, there realy are 3+1 dimensions. But in cosmos, where distortion of space around big masses like stars can occur, more than 3 length dimensions can be found. It is said that there has to be either 11 or 26 dimensions (there was a square equation resolved and those values were the results).

It is not rubbish, it is science, based on pure physics (and physics and math do not lie).

Answer 5

Yeah, from what I remember from my physics course on this stuff, the extra dimensions are necessary to meld gravity into the other two basic forces (electro-weak and strong nuclear force). If gravity only pulls on mass in three dimensions as it appears to for us, then the equations don't work and gravity can't possibly arise from the same source as the others - but if gravity has more dimensions, then it is possible. If they ever get a unified theory connecting all these things together, it will likely require the acceptance that gravity acts on other dimensions. I'm probably wrong on at least one part, but I thought I'd at least try and answer.

Answer 6

Nobody knows how may dimensions there are. 10-11 dimensions are theoretically possible but to date it is impossible to test this hypothesis. It's not a scam just a theory that helps explain some of the results observed from prior study. Read Michio Kaku's book hyperspace for the details.

Answer 7

I guess we can visualize the other dimensions in the movement of electrons. the electrons moving in different obritals like s, p, d and f show very sproidical movements. these i think are the movements in 7 dimensions. i.e., electrons of a "f" orbital moves in a 7th dimension.
Consider u r standing on an electron orbiting an atom and that is moving in 7 dimensions. it will seem to u that u are moving in a staright line. But to someone looking at u from a lower dimension, u will be moving in the wildest possible movements. so u can't actually visualize the dimensions unless u r in that dimension or some dimensions above it.

Answer 8

There is no correct definition of dimension.

Unless before discussing about dimension, there must be a clear cut definition of “What is a dimension?”

For example you have stated that there are 3 dimensions for space and one dimension for time.

Actually as per your statement there exist only two dimensions; space and time.

You are using 3 coordinate axes to describe the space and now you are saying these three as 3 separate dimensions. If you use polar co-ordinates then it is enough to use 2 ‘dimensions’ to represent the space.

Another one might use future, present and past as the three ‘dimensions’ of time.

If we include the ‘continuous’ time for the past present and future times, then the ‘dimensions’ will increase.

Thus there is no precise meaning for ‘dimensions’; according to the situation the number of ‘dimensions’ are included for convenience.

According to one definition the dimension is the power to which a fundamental quantity is to be raised to obtain a derived quantity.
By this definition the dimension of area is 2 in length, because square of length is area; dimension of volume is 3 in length because volume is cube of length and so on. Then there is no wonder for a quantity to have n dimensions, if a quantity is raised to a power of n.

Answer 9

Good question. You make some interesting points also. Scientist, just like regular people, always want to be right and they will go to great lengths to prove their theories. I would like to know the answer to this question too, but, I'm not a scientist, so I really don't know a good answer to this question (I've watched a few Nova programs on PBS that talked about things like this but I'm still not clear on the details. Explainations can even be vague where they are not confusing). I think it mostly has something to do w/ the way physical space bends and is twisted around itself. I would go to the nearest library and start reading for clarification. But, one other thing that has bothered me is why do people call our universe 3D when time is included as the 4th D. We move through time, so, why not say we live in a 4D universe? :)

Answer 10

length, Width, and top, are the in reality which have given names. each and each successive measurement is termed the fourth measurement, the fifth measurement, etc. The corresponding mensural shapes, although, do have names: 0D = element 1D = line phase 2d = sq. 3-D = dice 4D = tesseract (or hypercube) 5D = penteract 6D = hexeract 7D = hepteract 8D = octeract 9D = enneract 10D = dekeract the straightforward theory in the back of a hypercube is this: 2 factors can make a line once you've a measurement. 4 lines will be folded right into a sq. by ability of including a 2d dimesion. Six squares will be folded right into a dice by ability of including a third measurement. 8 cubes will be folded right into a hypecube if shall we get proper of entry to the fourth measurement. etc. At this element we do not even understand if a fourth measurement exists, yet experiments on the tremendous Hadron Collider (LHC) would answer that question in the subsequent 10 years.