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is it possible to have length, width and time. A 2D or 1D object with the 4th dimension (although then there would not be 4 dimensions so would it b 3D?) .

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I think you are describing sonic the hedgehog videogame. – JoeHobbit Jun 15 '11 at 4:27

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Sure, a 2D object that exists at more than one point in time would have those three dimensions. It'd be called 2+1-dimensional and there are various physical theories that could be adapted to describe it.

In our own universe, of course, all actual objects are 3+1-dimensional, because as far as we know, the universe itself is 3+1-dimensional (3 dimensions of space and one of time).

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In theoretical mechanics you can have for the 2D object in time 5 dimension. 2 for position, 2 for velocities and one for time. – Crowley Jun 15 '11 at 7:31
@Crowley: that's phase space, though, not configuration space (a.k.a. real space). Velocity is a degree of freedom, sure, but it's not an actual spatial dimension. – David Zaslavsky♦ Jun 15 '11 at 18:45
but if there was a universe "in the 5th dimension" we wouldnt be able to observe it would we? It seems like the dimensions of our universe really pertain to how we perceive things – luca590 Jun 16 '11 at 20:16
@luca590: what do you mean by "in the 5th dimension"? That statement doesn't make sense as it is. – David Zaslavsky♦ Jun 16 '11 at 20:18
ok i see. The 5th dimension (all possible paths of a point in time and space), is not really observed by us. Our universe has length, width, depth, and time. However we cannot see, hear, touch, etc the 5th. So how would we observe every possible path in the first 4 dimensions at once? – luca590 Jun 16 '11 at 20:37
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There is a nice animation about the 10th dimensions which goes through the various dimensions. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA

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