Shadows and Dimensions

Perhaps even that light might not even "exist" if there was nothing for it to hit (like in our eyes)? Though if there was nothing for light to reflect off of, then there could be nothing to emit it either... right?

More that motion is made possible at a quantum level by particles ceasing to exist at one point and re-manifesting at another. Like a zoetrope. The images aren't in motion, but the flicker effect (light-dark-light-dark) animates them.

I dunno, honestly I'm still fumbling around the edges of this one.

As for the idea that light only exists so long as there is an organ of sight for it to strike, well, yeah. Maybe so.

reply to post by Chadwickus


A shadow is a projection, and, as all projections, is made along one (or a combination) of it's axis, so it will always lose one axis/dimension.

If an object intercepts the shadow, for the object casting it, the shadow always looks the same, it only looks different to an external observer.

PS: some of "my" interpretations of what is being discussed come from the time I learned descriptive geometry and technical drawing, taht's probably one of the reasons why my opinions sound so "cold".


reply to post by FlyInTheOintment

No problems.
Until I joined ATS English was not even a second language to me, I only learned French.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


Hi, all.

As I grow mathematiaclly, am just beginning to become aware that there are some interesting and fun 'Mathematical Grimoires' out there. You may have heard of Goedel, Escher, Bach. GEB won the pulitzer in 1980.

Then there is The Lifebox the Seashell and the Soul by Rudy Rucker from 2005 which I am wading through now...

And this one, that I know very little about but may be of some use to you...

Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott. From WikiPedia:

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square",[1] Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. As such, the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics, and computer science students.

en.wikipedia.org...

Also, you may want to check out this article by Mathematician Richard Elwes. It was the basis for a thread I put up a couple of weeks ago...
Exotic spheres, or why 4-dimensional space is a crazy place
plus.maths.org...

Good luck on the paper. As you can see there are plenty of us eager to help. Really interesting subject matter.

Originally posted by Frater210
Good luck on the paper. As you can see there are plenty of us eager to help. Really interesting subject matter.

Yes indeed, some interesting insights.

My paper is only going to be like 1500 words, and it's supposed to be about anything of our choice that is related to space beyond our solar system. Since this is a pretty bare-bones summer class designed for non-science students, the instructor really only expects bland papers about specific stars or history of radio astronomy etc.

Currently, I'm just thinking of how I can do a simple essay on black holes, white holes, and worm tunnels. This is where the fourth dimension stuff came from.

I guess my next question would be, is the singularity of the black hole fourth dimensional itself?
And is there anything at all in the event horizon (such as matter)?