Quantum Physics 123: Monday 7 November

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor is pleased to find that he has a new desk, new chair, and clean floor this morning. This would be brilliant if the room didn't still smell of bleach...but one can't win at everything. He eyeballs under the desk before changing his mind and sitting down on top of it. His expression can be best described as 'jovial confusion'.]

Morning all. Again, my apologies for last week--though I do believe I spoke to all of you who were present in person. [His glance falls particularly upon Sam and Jack.] Today I plan to break your brains upon the spiked wheel of dimensionality.

Mathematically speaking, one can have an infinite number of dimensions--as in Banach space. However, for practical application in daily living, most beings apply three or four. Three, of course, is the reality that we all exist in, and the fourth relates to time.

The problem with the latter is the fact that it's impossible for the human brain to visualise, other than in three dimensional slices. If we lived in a two dimensional world, you would see a cube as a square, correct? Only seeing a two dimensional slice of it. The same, many theorise, is applicable to the fourth dimension. Everything we see is only a three dimensional slice of what exists in four dimensions. Everything exists in time and then ceases.

So this helps us regarding time travel how, exactly? [He rests his elbow on his thigh, and his chin on top of his fist.]

If one pictures the tesseract ((see the middle picture)), one can see oneself as anywhere on the very outside. That is where you are in space and time. If you travel to the inside, either one dimension's worth or two, you can come back out at a far away point having travelled less distance than one would need to get there in the standard way. That is, by living, which only allows travel in one direction in the fourth dimension. Some theorise that time travel can best be attained by this route.

Any questions? [wide smile]



((OOC: Yes. This is weird science, but it's built off of actual theories. Just don't take my/Ten's word for it in real life, mmkay?))

Comments

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[He receives a curious look.] But would this extrapolation always be correct, Mr Harkness?

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Well... why not? If all the pieces are correct, then the extrapolation should be, right? [Grimaces, answers himself.] ...always assuming you get the pieces in the right order, right?

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam overhears this and shudders. That's a pretty big assumption.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

That's the problem. If one doesn't have enough of the puzzle, or it all looks the same except for minor details--very crucial ones--it can't be made at all.