yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Mirrors And The Fourth Dimension


less than 1m read
·Nov 10, 2024

Mirrors do not show us a fourth dimension, but they do show us what a fourth dimension could do to us. First, notice that some things are the same as their mirror image, but some things are not. These two shapes are similar, but they cannot be rotated to look identical, to be superimposable on each other. This is called being chiral.

A chiral shape and its mirror image are called anatomorphs. These two shapes are anatomorphs in two dimensions. No amount of two-dimensional rotations will ever make them superimposable. To do that, I'll need to smash one of them inside out, turn it into its own mirror image, or rotate it in a third, higher dimension.

If I place a sticker here and face that side away from me, notice that the mirror inverts the object, just like a rotation through a higher dimension. The side of the real object that's furthest from me becomes the side of the virtual object that's closest to me. So, what would I look like if I was rotated around a plane in a fourth spatial dimension and then brought back? I would look like that.

More Articles

View All
Should You Follow Your Passion? – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel
Guess what gives you passion? You want to hear the secret? Guess what keeps you attached to an idea? That damn thing — working, success, users, revenue numbers — that makes a lot of these folks that have no particular ideas suddenly care a lot more when t…
2015 AP Chemistry free response 3b | Chemistry | Khan Academy
A total of 29.95 milliliters of 1.25 molar hydrochloric acid is required to reach the equivalence point. Calculate the concentration of potassium sorbate when you put the brackets; they’re talking about concentration in the stock solution. So, let’s just…
Turbulent Flow is MORE Awesome Than Laminar Flow
A portion of this video was sponsored by Cottonelle. This is like a scientist trap. It certainly is; case in point, that is Space Station commander Chris Hadfield. What this isn’t is turbulent. Nope, this is largely laminar flow. “Did somebody say peculia…
From Broke To $500,000,000 (The Empire of Ben Mallah)
So I’d like to introduce you to the most loud-mouthed, over-the-top offensive real estate mogul you’re ever going to meet: Ben Mala. “I bought it because I’m a big fat [__] business, that’s what you worry about.” He is your true rags-to-riches story, hav…
11 Things You Should QUIETLY ELIMINATE from Your Life | Marcus Aurelius Stoicism
[Music] Marcus Aurelius, the stoic philosopher king, once said, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” This profound insight lays the foundation for this video, where we’ll show you 11 vital things you need to quietly cut out of your life. We can trans…
Khan Academy announces GPT-4 powered learning guide
Hi everyone, Sal Khan here from Khan Academy, and I’m very excited to let you all know about the work that Khan Academy is now doing in artificial intelligence. Obviously, over the last many months, there’s been a lot of talk about artificial intelligenc…