Is the universe two dimensional?

Question

I picture the fabic of space as a sheet being stretched out with the mass of planets and such causing dimples in it which anything else on the fabric has the tendency to fall into.

This sheet stretching also pulls the the bodies of mass along with it as it stretchs, expansion of the universe.

But to think of space as a sheet is two dimensional. The only places where the dimensions change is where there are high concentrations of matter.

Mass does warp space and time doesn't it?

Answer 1

Space is three dimensional. I can go forward, sideways and up/down. The rubber sheet explanation is the one you see in all the science channel show because it's easier to understand. And yes, mass distorts space and tme.

Answer 2

Even a dimple presses two dimensions into a third. Remember that a 2 dimensional object would have no thickness whatsoever. If you press it down even a teensy bit, you are creating a third dimension.

Also, the description you are describing is closer to a model of "spacetime" which is not exactly the same thing as the universe. "spacetime" is merely a model explaining maybe why gravity works without any physical connection to the attracted bodies. It also helps scienists think about the "relativity" of time. It doesn't propose to be an actual description of a real-worl d mechanism.

It is just a model.

Answer 3

I don't think the universe is really something we can picture. that's the problem with all this stuff. We want to be able to wrap our minds around it; we try to think about things like the universe in familiar ways... There are scientists who think the universe may have numerous dimensions--9 or 11--something like that. String Theorists, or M-theory is what they're calling it now, I think--these guys have some pretty crazy ideas about how the universe may in fact work. But what more crazy is a lot of these ideas are standing up to scrutiny...

Answer 4

Space can have no dimension at all as it is not a thing to have any dimension. space is nothing . "Nothing" can have any dimension. to have any dimension , anything should NECESSARILY be a THING .Anything that is not a thig can have no dimension. spcace is noting , emptiness , void anc vacuum. It has no dimension and that is why it is boundless and shapeless .It is not afected by anything as it is nothing , It neither expands not shrinks , It is neither cut not divided ,But things stand divided in it and things have no existence without it , But it needs nothing to exist nothing for its existence.It is absolute and infinite. .Everything in this universe need that nothing for its existence .Thatis its uniqueness.When the coins aranged in the center of a carom board is struck by a striker , the coins disperse in all directions . the pieces that were together move away from one another . there is spce in begteen them . the spce does not expand because of the pieces moving away from one another . the spce in betwen them is constant and it is nothing ,the distance between them might increase and it cause no exopansion of anything and any stuff . the moving fo the pieces from one another and the increase in the distance between the coins , do not expnad the carrom board , - its floor . so to speak of the expansion of the space on account of the glactic matter moving away from one another is nothing but PURE AND IMMACULATE ABSURDITY AND NONSENSE EFEN IF GOD SAYS THAT THE MOVING OF THE GALACTIC MATTER EXPANDS THE SPACE .thre is no power in the universe to exopand the void , the emptiness , the NOTHING . Space being "NOTHING' whee is the question of its expansion ? If it expands , the quality attributes a shape and boundary to it .By what scientific principle any scientist can prove tha void - emptiness - "NOTHING" can be expanded ? should anythng be a thng to be expanded ? Can any one even imagine of expanding "NOTHING "?

Answer 5

Astronomers/cosmologists actually work with a universe that is multidimensional (eleven of them!!)
Mass does cause curvature of the space-time continuum.
The expansion, though, is thought to be a fundamental property of space-time itself, and one of the current questions being looked at is whether this is an infinite event, or if at some point, the expansion will cease, and contraction begin, a "big crunch" so to speak. The answer depends on the total amount of matter in the universe.

Answer 6

Ok, I'll try to explain my theory as short as possible.

I'm currently in the development phase of an artificial intelligence project, and I curiously found my self with a different concept of the universe and its dimensions.

First, to make easier to understand, imagine the universe with no living beings, no humans, no animals, no bacteries, once you imagine this, think now how many dimensions does the universe have? It would certainly be a world with no perceptions.

If we deep into our imagination we'll find that If there's no perception, there can't possible be neither messurement nor direction, this is because when we see a pen, what we're really looking at is a series of atoms and molecules emitting a radiation our brain can understand as photoenergy waves and serve it to us as colors,in a 3D dimension shape perception, but everything the pen, our bodies and brain are and have always been pure and well organized pieces, molecules or units of energy, understanding energy as that which has the capability to change something.

Thought from this perspective we're not an biological system, or a set of cells, not even a set of well organized atoms because even atoms are composed of something else, we're made of energy units which can't be measured due to their nature, we're and everything is a well organized set of units of energy which thought well have no dimensions.

Now the pen in our conscience has a height of 3 inches aprox. and a radius of 0.15 inches, but out of our conscience it's pure and well organized energy, just pure enery with no dimensions, so we could infer that in our conscience the universe has as many dimensions as our perception can measure but outside of it it has none.

As conclusion my answer is:

Number of dimensions in the universe = 0

And as an additional comment, if someone wants to know where the universe begins and where it ends, then let him deep into himself.

________________
I'll be posting info on my AI research and results soon!

Answer 7

The rubber sheet analogy is widely used, but those dimples need a third dimension. And then you need some time to look at it.

"Mass tells space how to bend and space tells matter how to move", as someone once said.

Answer 8

If Membrane theory holds true, then the universe has 11 dimensions. Or maybe it's the other way around and the 11 dimensions hold the universe, as Membrane theory allows for the formation of multiple universes.

Answer 9

The rubber sheet explination is just that, a way of explaining things in a way people can visualize and understand.

If I asked you to imagine a rubber block, even if you could get past how the marble gets *in* the rubber block, gravity wouldn't have any effect on the marble or structure of the rubber block, asside from displacement.

The universe is three dimentional and warps in a way sorta similar to the rubber sheet, but it warps in this way three dimentionaly.

See how confusing that is? I understand it and I can't even visualize that s***.

Answer 10

The physical universe is composed of matter, energy, space and time.

I doubt you will understand this, but I am providing the link in any case. This is a summation of the considerations and examinations of the human spirit and the material universe completed between a.d. 1923 and 1953, by L. Ron Hubbard.

http://www.scientology.org/p_jpg/wis/wiseng/34/34-fact.htm

Answer 11

Read this Scientific American piece. Short version; the universe is actually a two-dimensional plane packed with information, and the three-dimensions universe we perceive is nothing but an expression of that information. Matter and energy and life are, in fact, holograms. It leaves something very very interesting open for the future. If the universe is a vast two-dimensional plane of information -- then it can be hacked.