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
Khan Academy Ed Talks with LaVerne Srinivasan
Hi everyone! Sal Khan here from Khan Academy. Welcome to the Ed Talks version of our Homeroom with Sal live stream. We have a very exciting conversation today with Laverne Srinivasan. But before we get into that conversation, I will give my standard remin…
4 FACTS.
Come here. Come here. My webcam doesn’t even work. You know what these are? What are they? Nuts. You don’t know what these are? Hazelnuts? These are hazelnuts. No! That’s not what it is. They’re kinda weird. What are these one? Those are cashews. I hate c…
Underwater Lost City in England | Lost Cities With Albert Lin
ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): Maritime archaeologist Garry Momber has been exploring these waters for 20 years. Thank you. ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): The English Channel is a notoriously difficult place to dive. Meticulous preparations are vital. Visibility isn’t…
Morning Caribou before Coffee (Clip) | Alaska: The Next Generation
You can never really put your finger on exactly what caribou are going to do. They move from one place to another, and just when I think I start to understand them, they do something completely different. So I just woke up and came outside to go to the b…
The Waters of Slovenia | National Geographic
My connection to the sea started when I was little. I spent most of my summers at the sea, swimming. Ever since I was two and a half years old, I started swimming. I kept on developing a love for the water. The water, here, our skin is different from anyw…
General multiplication rule example: independent events | Probability & combinatorics
We’re told that Maya and Doug are finalists in a crafting competition. For the final round, each of them spins a wheel to determine what star material must be in their craft. Maya and Doug both want to get silk as their star material. Maya will spin first…