Tesseract
The 4th dimension
4-D
In life, we live in the 3rd dimension. Below us are 2 other dimensions, length, and width. In our dimension we have length, width and height. That creates space. But what if there was a dimension higher than us, a dimension that included length, width, height, and something else? Well, that is what the tesseract is, the fourth dimension.
Understanding the tesseract.
To understand the tesseract we must go back to the first dimension. The first dimension is a line. You make a line by connecting 2 dots. Then, you go to2-D with a square. A quart is made combining 2 lines. After that, you go to 3-D, with a cube. A cube is made by combining squares. Than you go to 4-D, the tesseract. Made by combining multiple cubes together. But here’s the problem that we have with that. There is no other dimension besides lenghth, height, and width. At least, in our dimension. Scientists believe that when you combine cubes, you get space and time. Time being the next dimension. But, living in the third dimension it is impossible for us to understand what this would look like.
Volume
The volume of a tesseract is impossibly difficult to understand. So what scientists do is measure it in cells. Each time/space cube in a tesseract is equal to L2, L being cells. In a tesseract, there are four L2’s. This gives the tesseract a volume of 8 cells.
Tesseract “A Wrinkle in Time.”
In the book “A Wrinkle in Time” 3 kids go on an adventure through space with Ms.Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit. They travel through space by using the tesseract. They do it like this. So imagine the you have a paper with an ant on it. For us, the fastest way for the ant to crawl across the newspaper and get to the other side would be by walking straight across it. But, what they do is somehow harness the power of the fourth dimension to travel through space/time. For the ant, this would look like us folding the newspaper in half, making the ant only needing to take a single step to get to the other side.
As shown in “A Wrinkle in Time”
Tesseract Origin
The name tesseract was first used by Charles Howard Hinton. He got the name from the Greek word. τέσσερεις ακτίνες (téssereis aktines). Meaning “four rays”. It was originally discovered long before Charles Howard Hinton coined the name tesseract, but I never figured out when.
Interesting Facts
- The tesseract is also called a hypercube, an 8cell, an octohoron, an 4-cube, and many other things.
- The tesseract is also a Marvel power cube.
- People have written hundreds of books about the tesseract.