Layman Explanation of String Theory Dimensions

If you ever wanted to know the basics on string theory dimensions but couldn't swallow the mass of technical jargon that usually accompanies an explanation then you've found the right article.

There are many variations of string theory but one is based on the idea that there are 10 dimensions.

Dimension 0: A point. Although technically not part of the ten dimensions its a good starting point. A point has no dimension. It is infinitesimally small and has no width, length, or height.

Dimension 1: A line. A line is a connection between 2 points. It travels in only one direction (straight line) and therefore has only one dimension.

Dimension 2: A shape or a split off of the first line. If you are traveling on a line in a straight path and suddenly make a 45 degree turn you have now entered a second dimension as your location now has both an x and a y position in reference to the original line.

Dimension 3: This is what humans perceive. Three dimensions, a length a width and a height to objects (x,y,z). It can also be considered the travel from one 2d point to another 2d point through a fold. If you are a two dimensional creature on one end of a sheet of paper, how would you magically appear on the other end without traveling across the paper? If someone were to fold the paper so your location and the end location were right next to each other then you could jump from one point to another, thus appearing at the end location instantaneously without traveling across the paper.

Dimension 4: Time. If you consider time as a straight path that people are constantly traveling on in our three dimensional word. Our appearance in the 4th dimension would be like a snake. The beginning of the snake would be ourselves as a cell in the womb and the end would be our bodies in a casket. The in between would be our appearance throughout our lives.

Dimension 5: A separate dimension. It is similar to the initial split from the line in dimension 1. The dimensions come in threes, a line, a split, and a fold. The split from the current time line would be a completely different universe based on a different choice you made. Say I am typing an article in this dimension and I make the decision not to smash the laptop. In this dimension I continue typing but in another dimension I smashed the laptop and walked away. There are an infinite number of splits from our current dimension based on our conscious choices (resembles a tree branching out).

Dimension 6: If we wanted to travel from our current dimensions to another universe where I smashed the laptop for example, the laptop universe would have to be folded close to my current universe. The act of me jumping from my current universe to the laptop smashing universe is travel in the 6th dimension.

Dimension 7: This is like a birds eye view of the tree that represents all the different dimensions as a result of deviations from our current time line. You can picture this image of the tree as a single point. There is a line from this point to another tree representing another set of possible universes given a different value of initial conditions (like the value of gravity for example)

Dimension 8: This dimension again is a split from the line in the 7th dimension.

Dimension 9: This is a fold from one of the dimensions paths in the 8th dimension to another path in the 8th dimension.

Dimension 10: This dimension is the final dimension and represents all possibilities in all universes given all initial conditions. This is the final dimension as there is no other way to go from here. We have covered all the infinite possibilities.

A few notes:

The next highest dimension, regardless of the dimension you are in, is perceived as time.

One of the reasons we cannot perceive other dimensions is the same reason a 2d creature cannot perceive a 3d creature like us. Assuming we would have a hair width in the 2d dimension. Our bodies passing through the 2nd dimension would look like cross sections of our body. If we stuck our hand into the second dimension a 2d creature would see 4 circles (our fingers) and those circles would turn into 5 (adding our thumb) and then into one big oval (our hand) that would shrink to a circle representing a cross section of our forearm and so on.

Well there it is! Tell your friends and you can impress them with your knowledge of string theory.