Officially, only four, but there are theories that suggest up to ten dimensions. One of the scientific currents that defend the ten dimensions is the Superstring Theory, which states that the ten dimensions would interact with each other like the strings of a violin. But everything is just speculation: the scientists themselves admit that, with current technology, it is still not possible to prove the ten dimensions.
The ten Commandments
In Superstring Theory, dimensions range from a simple line to a set of big bangs.
1. Before the first dimension, there is zero dimension, which is just a point. The connection between two points forms the first dimension, which is a straight line. Our concept of width comes from this connection between the points
2. The plane is the second dimension. To be two-dimensional, an object needs two numerical values (corresponding to our concepts of width and length) to be situated, because it has two axes
3. The third dimension is space. For an object, this means gaining depth and becoming three-dimensional, that is, owning three numerical values that place it (width, length and depth).
4. The fourth dimension is duration or time. It is the line that takes every four-dimensional being (like us human beings) from the beginning (baby me) to the end of existence (old man me). We do not perceive this dimension, so we cannot go back or forward in time to see our past and future selves.
5. In the fourth dimension, at each moment, a series of variables define what we will be in the next moment. The version that stays (the “normal” me) is just one of infinite ones that could happen (like the “viking me”, “pirate me” and “clown me”). The fifth dimension is the set of all these versions
6. The sixth dimension is the path between 5D possibilities. It would be as if all of your infinite versions were laid out on a plane, like a sheet, and you could fold that sheet, touching one side (the “normal me”, for example) to the other side (like the “Viking me”)
7a. The various possible 6D “selves” are within a universe. The seventh dimension takes the 4D timeline concept and applies it to this entire universe, tracing a timeline that begins with the big bang, the event that would have started everything.
7b. But that’s not all: the seventh dimension also says that, just like each one of us, the universe can also have several versions, and establishes that there are alternative universes to ours, originating from the same big bang
7c. “Our” big bang is just one possibility. There may be other different big bangs that may have given rise to other universes, which may also have infinite versions. 7D brings together all the big bangs and all the infinite possible universes
8. Imagine that each of these little balls in the image above is one of the big-bangs (with their respective derived universes) existing in the seventh dimension. The eighth dimension is a vertex, a point of intersection from which any of the “little balls” can be reached.
9. Starting from the 8D figure, imagine that the vertex is a point where the plane formed before can be folded. The ninth dimension is nothing more than a fold in this plane, to touch one big bang to another and allow travel between them – like the trips between the “selves” in 6D
10. The tenth dimension is the set of all paths to all big bangs, which give rise to all universes. Imagine taking all nine dimensions and putting them all together in a little dot. This is the tenth dimension – the end of the road, where there is nowhere else to go.
Read too:
– What is Theory of Relativity?
– What is the physical state of fire?
– What is the origin of the universe?