Tesseract — Time as the fourth dimension

{image source : ResearchGate}

In 1755 Lagrange proposed mass as not just a function of three dimensions that is length, width and height but he also added time. The arithmetic for these four dimensions was proposed by Hamilton in 1843. Whereas Tessaract as a term was coined by Hinton in 1880 and he also introduced a method for visualizing the fourth dimension using cubes.

Why time is needed to define a mechanics of a system ? This blog analyses the same.

Mass occupies space. In a Cartesian grid, the space taken by an object can be termed such as, from-Left-or-right, forwards-or-backwards, and upwards-or-downwards with the three independent directions. A spatial co-ordinates on maps takes into account latitudes and longitudes and yet to account altitude/depth. Due to this, someone at your exact two-dimensional, (latitude-and-longitude based) location but in a tunnel beneath you,is not exactly at the same location as you are, even though map may show it otherwise. So to fix this anomaly you would need altitude as a third dimension.

Similarly, When a person traveling in an overhead cable car above you, at a single instance of time may be exactly aligned with your own latitude and longitude co-ordinates based location but will differ in height/altitude. Here the two space components align. When you look above overhead at cable car, the geological location of you and cable car continues to stay same. That is higher the altitude of the cable car, from ground it appears to be at same spot like you for more time before it gets aligned away from you. So with Geo-spatial location and constant altitude being aligned between the person on the ground with that of the person in overhead cable car , the only variable in this mechanics is time. For the person in overhead cable car, the location is constantly changing at each tick of time and that defines co-ordinates dependent upon the time. Moving a space requires motion through time. Faster you move through space, slower you move through time.

This is why scientists consider time as another dimension that objects “move” through like the other spatial dimensions.

Time was considered as an abstract idea without any physical substance. Modern science proposes as the time to be made of chronons and has a discrete unit.