THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED

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[1] See foot-note, page 30. Page 192

XVII. OTHER DIMENSIONS THAN OURS. BY "CUBE" (W. T., HOLLAND).

Suppose some men were obliged to creep along inside a long gaspipe, so narrow, that each man would just fit it, and that consequently no two men could pass one another. Then each man would be able to move to and fro in the direction of the pipe, but in no other direction. In such a case each man would be able to see only the feet of the man in front of him, and if any conversation should be held, it is very probable that it would be about the length they had moved, and not about breadth or height. if you should look at the pipe from a great distance, you would see it as a black line, and if you were able to see through the wall, you would see little things moving along it. Suppose a number of men were obliged to creep between two parallel horizontal planes, so near one to the other, that they just fitted between them. They would have more freedom of movement than the men in the pipe, for they would be able to move in different directions. From any given place they would be able to move to some other place by creeping first in one arbitrarily chosen direction and after that in a direction perpendicular to the former.
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If you were to stand at a great distance above the planes, you would see only one plane, and if you were able to see through it, you would see little things, seemingly moving on that plane. In ordinary life our movements are not so restricted as in the above-mentioned states, for we are not only at liberty to move on the surface of the earth, but we can also move in a direction perpendicular to it. It might be possible to shut up the men within the pipe by means of a small hindrance at each of the two ends. The men between the planes might, in a similar way, be shut up by means of a wire, forming a closed figure, placed between the two planes, say at equal distances from each. Looking at the pipe, you would say that the movement in the pipe is restricted by two points, one at each end of the line, and that the movement on the plane is restricted by some closed figure on the plane. But in ordinary life, neither a point nor a closed figure (for example, a figure drawn on the surface of the earth) is sufficient to hinder us from moving. We are restricted in our movement only when we are inclosed in a room or some other hollow body. Now, the mathematician is accustomed to say that a line has one dimension (namely length), that a surface has two dimensions, and that a solid has three dimensions. This is done because a Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com