The 10th Dimension

I am currently reading the book, Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku, a physicist working in the City College of New York and is the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics. In that book, he describes all the 10 dimensions of space in layman terms. This book prompts me to search for more information on the Internet about this extra dimensions. What I've found intrigues me. And it triggers some thinking of my own.

Background: Physicists postulates that our world are contained in 3 spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. But recent postualtions suggests that there might be more than just four dimensions. 0-D is just a point, no length, width or height data. 1-D is like 1-D but the difference being there is another point elsewhere that creates a line. A creature that exist in think 1-D world can oni move back and forth along this line to infinity. But this is only 1-D, so if it can move, it stands to reason that the time dimension would also exist here. But that is digressing from my point. This world exist in 3-D world. Moving on...

2-D space is just like 1-D, with the only difference being that instead of moving in two directions (along the line), a 2-D creature will now be able to move in basically 4 directions; front, back, left and right. Visualising it, a 2-D world would be just like a piece of paper with no thickness. This world too exist in 3-D world.

3-D space however requires little explaination, since we are living in one. It has both the properties of 2-D space, plus an extra height dimension, giving us volume. Using these 3 numbers alone, scientist were able to describe almost all the natural phenomena in our world up until now. Problems compunding them now are the inability of 3-D space to unify all the known observable forces into one single force. But that is not what I wanted to talk about. To understand these dimensional concepts, here is an excellent guide.

And finally, the fourth dimension is said to be a dimension of time. Where does this world exist?

Einstein says that the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit of the universe. According to his theory of relativity, the speed of light is constant whether you move towards or away from it, and that as you move at speed closer to the speed of light, time slows down exponentially. Now from my thinking...

The skinny: If you move faster and faster, and approaching the speed of light, according to Einstein, time itself will correspondingly slows down. And when you reach the speed of light, time would stop, relatively. So, I was thinking, if time stops when you reached the speed of light, c, does it stand to reason that as a point, you are the origin of a new dimension? A dimension of time? For example, this point could be said to be similar to 0-D, and as a point, it has no length, width, or heigth information. So, for it to move along a line, another point must exist for a line to be connected between these two points, as pointed out earlier. Adding one dimension to it, we now have 5-D space, and in this space, you, as the point, can move back and forth along the line. This means that theoretically, you could move back and forth in time. But for it to be able to move back and forth, it must be contained within a space or world, thus, the 3-D spatial and 1-D temporal world would have to exist in a 7-D world for time to move back and forth. Now instead of being a temporal dimension, the 4th dimension (similar to 0-D) is really a spatial dimension in 7-D space.

Now, we have a line of 5-D, and if we expand this further, where the 4th dimension now not only have the ability to move back and forth, but left and right as well, we've created the 6th dimension. But to appreciate this 6th dimension, it must be viewed from a vantage point of a dimension higher above; the 7th dimension. So, moving back and forth, we can intrepret you (as the 4-D object) as moving back and forth in time. Moving left and right however, I am at a loss to tell you the effect of this extra dimension. (Note: Duration (time) can be said to be the effect of having the 5th dimension.) Further expanding this logic, now you can move back and forth, left and right, and even up and down in the 7-D world. And how would this world manifest itself like 4-D manifest itself? I do not know. And since I can't possibly imagine a process by which an object in 7-D space can have any sort of 'duration' or even of it possessing something akin to time, I could not postulate any higher dimensions.

Conclusion: The known universe has not 10 dimension as postulated by string theory, but only contains 7 dimensions. All of which are spatial dimension being manifested in different ways; like the saying, different sides of a coin.

http://www.tenthdimension.com/flash2.php This flash animation tells of one of the possible interpretations of higher dimensional space, and a useful tool in trying to imagine higher dimensions. But if you observe carefully the explaination for 1-D and 8-D, although they describe the same thing, two different outcomes are observed. It the same outcome as 1-D is applied to 8-D outcome, then there are possibly 11 dimensions, not 10. Indeed, one of the newest refined theory states that there are 11th dimension, with the 11th dimension all but invisible.

I will have to stop now lest I confuse you people further. I will be back with more explainations as I myself saught to understand this concept myself. Who knows, my postulation above could be right, and more often than not(unfortunately), I found them already explored and discarded by brilliant scientists around the world before me. Cheerio!

I've got an idea...

Hahaha, I've got an idea. An idea to make something. not a very grand thing. Something manually operated, but which will form a basis for my next endeavour.

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...

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I am going to make...a hand! YES! A hand! Well, as close a replication in function as I can make it of course. I got the basic plan for it, now all I have to do is source for the materials, some customised building blocks.....maybe if I take some from LEGO MindStorm toys? Hmmm, worth a shot. With what I'm doing, I just might need it. Okay then, I'm gonna go detail my design. Catch you later.

Interests Interesting?

Some like to make money. Some likes to see movie stars and salivate after them. (Think Fiona Xie in bikini.) Some read books for no other reason than to red books. Some play with paper clips, turning them into houses. And I even heard the one about a woman who goes around asking for money to enlarge her breast! Some like knitting, sewing, cooking. Many made money from their varied interests. Others are just amateurs. And still others are wannabes, pretenders to the way of interesting interests but paying mere lip service to be labeled as having an interest.

So, what are my interests? Cooking? Sure it suits many a women's fantasies about men in nothing but apron cooking up a sumptious and romantic meal after sex, but this is where fantasies stop and reality sets in: Ain't gonna happen! I cook sumptious, but not romantic. After sex I do not cook...in fact, I've never had sex, so I do not know what to do after that! :P

Reading? Sure I did alot of that. To the point of wearing a thick spectacles. But I only read things of interests. My friend's blog for example. Sci-Fi books, factoids about astronomy, robots, AI, planes, girls (what? you don't think I'm normal?), history and paleontology. Ohh, there are many things that interests me. Watching movies, animes, reading manga and playing games. So many things to do, and yet, I've only found some time to do some of the things I like. Most other time I spend working and sleeping. Notice how I never mention eating. That's becouse during meal, I'm either working or sleeping. Hahah! Yes, you can eat and sleep at the same time.

So I was thinking like some years back, what makes me tick? Planes? Definately! I got into an aerospace program and I'm working in the aviation industry. What's my next step? Well, I'm not as adventurous as some of my acquintance are, but maybe after I've earned my pay and experience in the field, I'd go back to school and embark on another direction; robotics and AI programming. These two complimentary fields will fit into my overall plan: to design an intelligent robotic airplane capable of operating autonomously for long periods of time in a hostile environment with minimum human intervention. If that's not a mouthful, what is? :D

Wish me luck.....I need it above all else. And a huge break!

What am I doing in Singapore?

What the heck am I doing in Singapore? Other than making some money, which is just enough to feed and cloth me, Singapore doesn't offer much does it? I like scientific research, technological progress, but the way things are going in Singapore, well, let's just say that the narrow-mindedness of the powers that be makes that a mere pipedream.

How many promising projects have you experienced, seen or heard getting axed becouse your boss says its too expensive, not our culture, will distrupt social order, will not make money to justify the cost or just plain becouse? Many isn't it? I recently encounter this in my company.

You see, I am part of a safety committee that reviews and updates the plant safety standard operational manual for my company. While at it, we have the additional task of writing a completly new procedure for confined space rescue operations. We did them and more. But the management see it fit to cut the scope of our work to fit their need; which is to enter a bloody stupid competition to win a freaking prize!!! I was like "What the heck?! We're doing this for a prize? Not to save lives?" Believe you me when I say a whole lot of people in the committee felt that way. Misplaced priorities. As such, they cancelled all the safety improvements we've suggested, including the one where we actually have to buy the equipments we need to do the job properly. The reason: Cost and lack of project to do next year!

Draw your own conclusions, but this thing is whack!

Myth: Busted!

Myth:
1) Does an ice bullet fired by a second gunman could've killed JFK?
It couldn't even kill a fly. An ice bullet is so fragile, that it could not withstand the high force present in a high powered rifle needed to propel it that far. What it will do is shatter and make one hell of a noise. BUSTED!

2) Will dropping a lit cigarette into the toilet bowl explode when you're doing your..."business"?
No of course not. Even if your fart is 100% ammonia or flammable gas, it still will not ignite and blow you off the toilet. At most you'll get burnt down at the you know where. BUSTED!

3) Running through rain will keep you drier.
Running through the rain won't keep you dry. However, walking does. This only applicable for a certain distance, beyond which, it doesn't matter whether you walk or run, you'll be one wet cat. BUSTED!

4) Using mobile phones at petrol station will blow you sky high.
This is one myth that has taken a life of its own and even circulated by, of all people, the government! The electromagnetic radiation given off by the mobile phone does not contain enough energy to ignite the fuel vapors when you're filling up your car. Do not be afraid to use your mobile phones when you're filling up...just don't do one thing; get in and out of the car, and touching the pump immediately after. This has been shown statistically and scientifically to really ignite the fumes. BUSTED!

5) Sillicone implants will explode when you go to high altitudes.
Contrary to what many Holliwood celebrities' believes, breast implants with silicone will not explode when you get in a jet, and fly at high altitudes. In fact, even when you subject it to extreme pressure several times that of the atmosphere, nothing changes, except the formation of tiny bubbles, which by the way, will not blow up. BUSTED!

6) CD-ROM will shatter if run continuosly at 52x at your computer and have the shards pierce you.
Although we like to believe that the CD-ROM player that we buy are safe for use, there is some grain of truth in this myth. However, this is more of an operational safety kind of thing rather than material defect. Spinning the cd at full speed has the potential to shatter the disc, but the disc itself will have to be substantially weakened for it to shatter, and the enclosures of you CD-ROM to be made of paper for the shrapnels to even start flying at you. Grains of TRUTH!

7) Pissing on an electrified rail will electrocute you.
Your piss does conduct electricity due to the high inpurity it contains. It will also electrocute you if you pee on an electrified track, on a wet ground, without rubber shoes and your pee does not break up upon contact. However, for this to happen, you either had to be really desperate, or stupid or just plain fucking lazy to find a toilet. Either way, you should get electrocuted. TRUTH!

8) A barrel of brick will fall down, breaks and spill its content, goes up, hits you, and then comes down again and hits you the third time.
Murphy's Law worst case scenario for construction workers. Due to the way the barrel is constructed, having it fall 30ft with 500lbs of bricks will not break it and spill its content out. BUSTED!

9) Electric eel skin wallet will wipe your credit card info.
Totally crap! It's a dead fish! And your credit card is much more resilient than you thought. Magnetic strength of up to 1000 gauss is need to really wipe the date contained in the credit card, and the strongest magnetic field you will likely to meet in everyday life is just about 10 gauss. The eel skin wallet? Zero gauss! BUSTED!

10) A penny dropped from the Empire State building (or any high building) will shatter your skull.
A variation of this myth is that a drop of mercury will penetrate your skull. So not true. In fact, any sizable weight falling at 120mph and hitting you will shatter your head and much more. A penny just does not have enough mass to do enough damage. BUSTED!

11) Dissimilar tooth fillings will pick up radio signals...and you can hear them.
Totally not true. I do not know what you hear, this is so stinking false! Even if you can pick up the frequencies with the fillings in your teeth, your brain would not be able to process the data. Why? Becouse your brain is not wired to process radio frequencies you numbskull! BUSTED!

12) People buried alive will still be alive after several hours.
There is not enough air in a sealed coffin to last you even 3 hours, let alone 3 days. Plus the weight of several tonnes of earth crushing down on the coffin would've crushed it flat. You'll sonner die of crushing than run out of air. BUSTED!

13) Cola can clean chrome, melt steak, clears corrosion.....
Cola does clear up chrome pretty well, even better than the retail chrome cleaners. However, the other part of it just does not add up. Grains of TRUTH!

14) Dropping a hammer (or heavy object) just before you hit the water (after a drop of 100m) will save you.
If you drop from 100ft (33m) into the water, the G force generated is in excess of 280Gs. That's more than what a human body is designed to withstand. That's becouse at such height, hitting the water is like hitting solid concrete due to the high surface tension of the water. Even if you break the tension by dropping a heavy object before you, it won't reduce the G forces by any significant amount. Verdict: You'll still die. BUSTED!

15) Lightning will strike the person with metal stud in their tongue.
Not true. There is no statistical data to support that sporting a tongue-stud will attract more lightning strikes. BUSTED!

16) A wooden cannon will explode with standard explosive charge and kill a whole village.
A cannon made from hardwood trunk is very strong. For it to blow up, it is neccesary to blow it up with several kilos of gunpowder, which is not very wise or practical under the circumstances. BUSTED!

17) A duck's quack has no echo.
It does echo. The catch is the duck's echo wave signature is really a close match with the original's quack. So you may be hearing the echo, but thought it was the duck. BUSTED!

18) Chicken gun: Frozen chicken vs. thawed chicken, which one will shatter the windscreen.
It does not matter whether the chicken you fired at a windscreen is frozen or thawed; if the mass of the chicken is the same for both case, both will produce the same result: the force of impact will be the same. BUSTED!

19) A bullet fired (and piercing the fuselage) in an aircraft flying at altitude will create explosive decompression.
Definately not true. There is not enough outrush of air from the hole a small bullet makes. Explosive decompression involves large mass of air exiting from one location for it to be destructive. Otherwise, it's just a 'poof' in the night. BUSTED!

20) Goldfish has only 3 (or 15 depending on source) seconds of memory.
Goldfish has memories far longer than that. Some studies suggested maybe several weeks. BUSTED!

There you have it. It's not much of an explaination, but it's something. So, don't be afraid to do something just becouse you heard it can't be done.

Myths

No, it's not the computer game Myth I'm talking about. I'm talking about myths; stories that you could not determine either to be the truth or false.

From Wikipedia (man, I love this site!): myth a comparatively recent term that has been applied to stories that purport to have a basis in fact, but when examined are fictional. For example; urban myth, the myth of El Dorado. This usage, which is often pejorative, may have arisen from labelling the religious stories and beliefs of other cultures as being incorrect. As a term it allows no distinction between fiction, legend, fairy tale, folklore, fable, and urban legend, each of which has a precise meaning.

So, what are the myths I'm been saying? Or rather, the Internet has been notoriously circulating? Here's some of them:-
1) Does an ince bullet fired by a second gunman could've killed JFK?
2) Will dropping a lit cigarette into the toilet bowl explode when you're doing your..."business"?
3) Running through rain will keep you drier.
4) Using mobile phones at petrol station will blow you sky high.
5) Sillicone implants will explode when you go to high altitudes.
6) CD-ROM will shatter if run continuosly at 52x at your computer and have the shards pierce you.
7) Pissing on an electrified rail will electrocute you.
8) A barrel of brick will fall down, breaks and spill its content, goes up, hits you, and then comes down again and hits you the third time.
9) Electric eel skin wallet will wipe your credit card info.
10) A penny dropped from the Empire State building (or any high building) will shatter your skull.
11) Dissimilar tooth fillings will pick up radio signals...and you can hear them.
12) People buried alive will still be alive after several hours.
13) Cola can clean chrome, melt steak, clears corrosion.....
14) Dropping a hammer (or heavy object) just before you hit the water (after a drop of 100m) will save you.
15) Lightning will strike the person with metal stud in their tongue.
16) A wooden cannon will explode with standard explosive charge and kill a whole village.
17) A duck's quack has no echo.
18) Chicken gun: Frozen chicken vs. thawed chicken, which one will shatter the windscreen.
19) A bullet fired (and piercing the fuselage) in an aircraft flying at altitude will create explosive decompression.
20) Goldfish has only 3 (or 15 depending on source) seconds of memory.

So, from (1) through (20), which one are the one you say are the truth, and which one would you say are definately busted myths?

Coming up tommorow, the science to debunk or support the myths!

I play Galactic Civilization

It is a good game. Strategy, political wit, Machiviellian charm, explosive ships and clever exploits all roled into one. I won my first game not one hour ago under the Technological Win condition. What it means? Simply that my civilization is the best in the galaxy. Hehehe. I restarted and now aim for my civilization to be the most powerful militarily and economically. Who can stand in my way? Muahahah!!