Posted on 05/05/2016 6:53:04 PM PDT by MtnClimber
The question of why space is three-dimensional (3D) and not some other number of dimensions has puzzled philosophers and scientists since ancient Greece. Space-time overall is four-dimensional, or (3 + 1)-dimensional, where time is the fourth dimension. It's well-known that the time dimension is related to the second law of thermodynamics: time has one direction (forward) because entropy (a measure of disorder) never decreases in a closed system such as the universe.
In a new paper published in EPL, researchers have proposed that the second law of thermodynamics may also explain why space is 3D.
"A number of researchers in the fields of science and philosophy have addressed the problem of the (3+1)-dimensional nature of space-time by justifying the suitable choice of its dimensionality in order to maintain life, stability and complexity," coauthor Julian Gonzalez-Ayala, at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico and the University of Salamanca in Spain, told Phys.org.
..... The scientists propose that space is 3D because of a thermodynamic quantity called the Helmholtz free energy density. In a universe filled with radiation, this density can be thought of as a kind of pressure on all of space, which depends on the universe's temperature and its number of spatial dimensions.
Here the researchers showed that, as the universe began cooling from the moment after the big bang, the Helmholtz density reached its first maximum value at a very high temperature corresponding to when the universe was just a fraction of a second old, and when the number of spatial dimensions was approximately three. The key idea is that 3D space was "frozen in" at this point when the Helmholtz density reached its first maximum value, prohibiting 3D space from transitioning to other dimensions.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Cause that’s the way God designed it.
Interesting theory. Could it be because the Heavenly Father wanted it that way?
So we’d have more cubic footage.
Are they certain it’s only 3-dimensional?
It actually is. We only perceive three of them.
Because space is made of Up, Down, and Sideways.
Are the liberals trying to blame us for the lack of extra dimensions?
“Universe limited to 3 dimensions—women and minorities hit hardest by shortage.”
Flatlanders are always surprised.
Because they made all those stupid glasses with a red lens and a blue lens.
One more dimension and we’d have to have another eye.....like my cousin Sam.
< inhale > ... ‘ere.
Some things look really good in 3D.
And where would we be without ice cubes???
Four dimensions, actually, including time.
In any case, we are completely unable to perceive other dimensions, even if they did exist. With everything in the physical world describable in terms of the x, y, and z axes and time, what possible use is there for another dimension?
I once lived in a two-dimensional universe. It got kind of boring. All the women were built like Calista Flockhart.
Can anyone explain to me how there can be a non-integer number of dimensions?
If the number of dimensions was approximately three, might there have at one time been pi dimensions?
You don’t perceive time? you are in another universe! ;-)
I was going to say time, but time and gravity are so intimately intertwined that it’s not really a single dimension.
Flockhart...Flockhart...
Sounds familiar. Actor that played a lawyer?
I ain’t gonna look.
I once heard Heaven is actually a different dimension.
What do The 5th Dimension think about this?
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