Is it possible for a human to visually conceive the fourth dimension, a tesseract for example.?

Question

When I see images of it is does nothing to make me understand how it is 4d and not just 3d.

Answer 1

You are asking about  a 4th dimension that is 90 degrees (1pie radians) from the 3 dimensions we think of as length, width and height.  

While our perception and senses cannot perceive this, some people with a very developed sense of spatial concept can conceive this.  This is how the shadow tesseract hypercube we see in 3 dimensions was conceived.

We often think of the 4th dimension as time.  For this 4th dimension  humans can both perceive and conceive.

With our current technology we have  no means to detect or measure a physical 4th dimension.  You are not alone in having trouble conceiving what a real hypercube would look like from looking at its' 3 dimension shadow.  Think of how hard it is to conceive something 3 dimensional in 3 dimensions based upon its' 2 dimensional shadow.

Answer 2

yes you can watch a certain youtube video bringing you to another deminsion

Answer 3

It is easy for a bureaucrat to visualize 4, 5, 6, n dimensions. Think of dimensions as a filing system. First you file by length, then width, then height, then time, then another parameter.... The mathematician can handle multiple dimension analysis by setting up the matrix (file cabinets) to account for each parameter.

Answer 4

The tesseract IS the 3d representation of a 4D (Cube like) object. A 4D object casts a 3D shadow,  we as 3D objects cast 2D shadows.   We as 3D objects in a 3D world can only visualize 3D,2D &1D objects. We have no reference to what 4D is so we cannot view a 4D object directly.  

Carl Sagan in his TV show Cosmos has a wonderful explination. See if you can find a clip on YouTube... (Search on: Carl Sagan Cosmos Tesseract)

Answer 5

Mathematics can give us pretty good visuals on non-3D surfaces.

For instance, a mobius strip has only one side- if you trace your finger around the band you will never reach the end. It is a two dimensional object.

You can build and model 4D objects too, like klein bottles (you can even buy one from a mathematician at www.kleinbottle.com).