If there was a fourth dimension how could you seperate three rings without breaking them?

Answer 1

Given three linked three-dimensional rings as we know them, they could be separated by passing them through the fourth physical dimension, if there is one that we can access. The rings will have a dimension of zero in the fourth dimension if they are three dimensional rings. So it will be fairly easy to just move along the fourth dimension, translate them, then set them back down at the original point in the fourth dimension where they are no longer linked.

The easiest way to visualize this is to imagine an analogy in the two dimension and three dimension example. Imagine you have a large ring and a small ring that fits complete inside it. Put them both on a flat table with the smaller one inside the large one. If you were an imaginary two dimensional created that existed only in two dimensions as defined by the table surface, you would see no way of getting the small ring out of the big ring without destroying or opening up the large ring somehow. However, you, as a three dimensional creature, have access to a dimension that the imaginary creature does not. You can lift that small ring out of the plane of the table, move it, and put it back on the table outside the large ring. To the two dimensional creature, he (or she) will see the small ring suddenly disappear and reappear elsewhere on the table top outside the big ring.

So now back to the three ring example. You now are the creature that exist in three dimensions. A creature that exists and can access the fourth dimension can separate the rings in a way that you can't just like how you can get the small ring out of the big ring for a two dimensional creature. To you, it will look like a ring disappearing and reappearing somewhere else where they are no longer linked.

Answer 2

I'm assuming the rings were interlocked (whatever that means in 4-D!)

One of the best ways of dealing with 4-D is by analogy to 3-D.
Rings are 2-D, so if we go down a dimension, we have the analogus question: In 3-D, how could you separate three (interlocking) 1-D straight lines without breaking them?

The only way I can see them interlocking would be crossing at the same point, like x, y, and z axis, although they don't have to be at right angles, or forming a triangle (but extending to infintity. Ortherwise they'd be line SEGMENTS.)
Now, can you lift the z axis out without breaking the x,y...I guess so. You just lifted it OFF, you didn't pull it through.
Suppose the lines formed a triangle (if that's what interlocking means.) You can still lift one side of the triangle up out of the paper without destroying the other sides. (If you had to stick with a plane, you would have to slide the third line ALONG the other two which, I guess, would count as breaking them.

So, to solve your problem, work backwards. Take my solutions and picture them in 4-D with 2-D rings, rathre than in 3-D with 1-D lines. Good luck!

Answer 3

There is a 4th dimension. It's called time.

Answer 4

Place each of them in a different time phase.