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Perhaps you are confusing it with String Theory, which postulates the existence of extra dimensions which are twisted so tightly that they are too small to be noticed. This also is far from accepted as true. (Or maybe you are not reffering to this at all).
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I believe string-theory, for various technical reasons, is now called M-theory.
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I believe that the other "dimensions" in string theory are also spatial dimensions, but I'm not really sure.
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I also believe the M-theory extra dimensions are space-like. Just extremely small. By extremely, we are talking on a scale where protons and electrons are simply huge.
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Superstring theory only works if the universe is 11 dimensional
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Not quite true, as I understand it. The simplest solution to the superstring equations is an 11 dimensional universe -- you could also get a much larger one.
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fortunately existing in an such a universe is the only way to explain some of the behavior of quantum particles they've observed, lending some credence to superstring theory.
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Sadly, also not quite true. It isn't the only way to explain it. It is just a particularly elegant way. As far as I am aware, M-theory hasn't provided testable hypotheses yet.
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However, the idea that the other dimensions are somehow wrapped around each particle seems like a really far reach for an answer to me.
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Not wrapped around each particle.
An analogy helps. Imagine an ant living on a sheet of paper.
That ant has 2 space dimensions.
Now take that sheet of paper, and roll it into a relatively large tube.
The ant still has 2 space dimensions, however one of them is 'closed' and forms a loop.
Shrink the loop.
As the loop gets smaller, the dimension that goes around the loop becomes harder for the ant to see. Eventually, the tube of paper looks like a 1-dimensional line.
The extra dimensions are 'curled up' like the loop is, so small that to us, they are very hard to detect.
(thanks to Nova for that beautiful analogy)
You can take a 1 dimensional line, and 'add a line at every point' and make a 2 dimensional space. You can do the same thing to our small tube, and it looks like 2-dimensional space.
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I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me that scientists are being shown evidence that we are living in a universe that has many, many aspects to it that they aren't capable of perceiving, so they try to come up with implausible explanations as to why this is. It's like they can't admit to themselves that there is a potential limit to their knowledge. But once again, I'm no expert and I might not know what the hell I'm talking about.
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And that is their job. They don't admit there is a potential limit to their knowledge, until they are shown proof.
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And here's another thing, how could we know if we existed in more than one temporal dimension? What if what we reffered to as 'time' was really the linear perception of the effects of the other 7 dimensions? There is no way to know for sure, since no experiment can be done outside of time. So the physicists assume that the other ones are spatial, because then it's easier to explain them away.
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Time-like dimensions behave differently than space-like dimensions, in a few ways. I believe that M-theory requires extra space-like dimensions.
On the other hand, I have heard of one physicist who attempted to explain Einstien's Theory of General Relativity using extra time-like dimensions. Forgot his or her name.
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Yes time is a dimension, it is not necessarily The Fourth Dimension. It was the fourht to be discovered however. This is said because time, as all the other dimensions, is linear.
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The dimensions are, as far as I can tell, unordered. The "Fourth Dimension" is just a name. Humanity placed them in an order for convienience.
The order we give them also isn't important. A 4-dimensional object need not extend over 4 adjacent dimensions, because 'adjacent' doesn't mean anything.
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Hypercube definition- a hypercube has been played with for many years. We are still trying to unlock all the mysteries behind and hyperacceleration perhaps beyond.
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Um, hypercubes are rather simple geometric objects. I am not aware of any mysteries surrounding them -- hell, I can't even think of anything interesting enough about them to be mysterious.