A 3-Dimensional Excursion through 2-Dimensional “Flatland” as an Analogy for 4-Dimensional Light and Coulombic Force in Three Dimensions
Raymond H. Gallucci
Keywords: Flatland, Dimensions, Coulombic Force, Light
The 19th century novella “Flatland” has often inspired comparisons of inter-dimensional phenomena, particularly how phenomena in dimension n + 1 would be manifested to observers restricted to dimension n. With n = 2, a possible analogy for the phenomena of light and Coulombic repulsion and attraction is examined for its potential extension to n = 3, given the impossibility of our even physically imagining a fourth dimension, purely spatial (i.e., not-temporal, in contrast to Einstein’s time or space-time) like the three we know (length, width and height).
