4 ms·
Think of a cylinder whose radius is of atomic size. More or less that is what they mean. That space is “felt” as 1-dimensional because there is no way to tell
by pfortuny 6y ago
Think of a cylinder whose radius is of atomic size. More or less that is what they mean.
That space is “felt” as 1-dimensional because there is no way to tell one point on a circumference from another on the same one.
- nine_k 6y agoIf it's atomic size, it can be relatively easily detected, I suppose, by setting things in a spiral motion. The tricky variant is when the compact dimension is seriously sub-atomic, so you have trouble moving anything easily detectable along it.
- caf 6y agoIf two (neutral) objects were only slightly separated along that dimension, no matter how compact it is, wouldn't they be able to move through each other as seen from our perspective (as in, occupy the same position in the usual three dimensions at the same time, because they are separated along that additional spatial dimension)?
- simiones 6y agoOnly if the objects themselves are really small along that extra dimension relative to that extra dimension - if they occupy most of the dimension, they would "bump into each other" anyway.
- cutemonster 6y agoMakes me think of quantum tunneling
- pas 6y agoQuantum stuff can already move through each other. (Bosons easily, fermions have the Pauli exclusion principle.)
- amelius 6y agoNot if the strong nuclear force extends significantly beyond the small dimension.
- amelius 6y agoBut the curvature would be enormous.
- aroberge 6y ago"Curvature" in physics generally refers to the "intrinsic" curvature (see from within the space) as opposed to the extrinsic curvature (seen from a larger, embedding space). A cylinder has zero intrinsic curvature, the same as a flat sheet of paper.