Edit: Sorry for “spacial” instead of “spatial”. I always get that spelling wrong.
Let’s call the four spatial dimensions W,X,Y, and Z, where X,Y, and Z are the 3 familiar directions, and W is our fourth orthogonal direction.
Suppose a simple 3 dimensional sphere of radius 1 (size 0 in W) has the positional coordinates W0, X0, Y0, Z0.
If the sphere is moved to any non-zero coordinate along W, it disappears from 3-space instantly, as it has no size in W. By analogy, if we picked up a 2D disk into Z, it would disappear from the plane of 2-space.
Now nudge the sphere over to W1. The sphere no longer intersects 3-space, but retains the coordinates X0, Y0, Z0. Right?
So, while the sphere is still “outside 3-space” at W1, it can be moved to a new location in 3-space, say X5 Y5, or whatever, and then moved back to W0 and “reappeared” at the new location.
Am I thinking about that correctly?
A 3-space object can be moved “away” in the 4th, moved to a new location in 3-space without collisions, and then moved back to zero in the 4th at the new 3-space location?
What does it even mean to move an object in 3-space while it has no intersection or presence with said 3-space?
What would this action “look like” from the perspective of the 3-space object? I can’t form a reasonable mental image from the perspective of a 2-space object being lifted off the plane either, other than there suddenly being “nothing” to see edge-on, a feeling of acceleration, then deceleration, and then everything goes back to normal but at a new location. Maybe there would be a perception of other same-dimensional objects at the new extra-dimensional offset, if any were present, but otherwise, I can’t “see” it.
Edit: I guess the flatlander would see an edge of any 3-space objects around it while it was lifted, if any were present. It wouldn’t necessarily be “nothing”. Still thinking what a 3D object would be able to perceive while displaced into 4-space.
Bonus question: If mass distorts space into the 4th spatial dimension… I have no intuition for that, other than that C is constant and “time dilation” is just a longer or shorter path through 4-space…. eli5
In: 296
Consider the W dimension as time, if you’d prefer a proxy that isn’t the 2d -> 3d mapping. If an object was temporally displaced such that it always existed forward or backwards in time from when you are, it would instantly disappear from the 3d space you currently inhabit, but it’s position could still be the same position in X, Y, Z. You could overlap with it in those dimensions, and as long as you do not meet it in time, it will never affect you. That distance could be the smallest instance of time we could possibly measure, but you would never interact with the object, as it exists in a new 3d-space. You likely wouldn’t even feel the “acceleration” if it was you that moved in this way, as the sensation of motion we experience is limited to the 3 dimensions which we perceive.
Where it gets a bit tricky is the part about seeing the edge of 3d objects in a 2d analog. If the objects around you existed in the 4th dimension through which you were being moved, you would obviously still see them. Objects which may not normally intersect our 3d space may briefly intersect with yours as you move through W. Hopefully our environment would exist in W in the direction in which you get pulled.
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