--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you increase the number of space…" description: "\"“If you increase the number of space dimensions beyond three, there can be neither stable solar systems nor stable atoms. For instance, going to a four..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebc/max-tegmark-3860_quote_if-you-increase-the-number-of-space-dime_1303302.jpg" --- # If you increase the number of space dimensions beyond… ![“If you increase the number of space dimensions beyond three, there can be neither stable solar systems nor stable atoms. For instance, going to a four-dimensional space changes Newton’s inverse-square law for the gravitational force to an inverse-cube law, for which there are no stable orbits…” quote by Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebc/max-tegmark-3860_quote_if-you-increase-the-number-of-space-dime_1303302.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebc/max-tegmark-3860_quote_if-you-increase-the-number-of-space-dime_1303302.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebc/max-tegmark-3860_quote_if-you-increase-the-number-of-space-dime_1303302.jpg) > ““If you increase the number of space dimensions beyond three, there can be neither stable solar systems nor stable atoms. For instance, going to a four-dimensional space changes Newton’s inverse-square law for the gravitational force to an inverse-cube law, for which there are no stable orbits whatsoever.”” [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Higher spatial dimensions alter fundamental forces, making stable atoms and planetary orbits impossible. **In simple terms:** More dimensions break stable matter and orbits. Key Takeaway Consider limits of physical laws. Themes physics dimensions stability cosmology Mood speculative inquisitive Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - theoretical research - science education - philosophical debate Key Concepts anthropic principle fundamental forces Questions to Reflect On - What would a universe with different dimensions look like? - How does this shape our understanding of existence? A Different Perspective Our universe may be uniquely three‑dimensional. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dimensions Stable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dimensions-stable-4287230/) [Orbits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/orbits/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Stable Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stable-atoms-4287231/) [Stable Orbits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stable-orbits-4287229/) ## Related quotes > [You are so fat NASA orbits satellites around you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-so-fat-nasa-orbits-satellites-around-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Persons with any weight of character carry, like planets, their atmospheres along with them in their orbits.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/persons-with-any-weight-of-character-carry-like-planets-their/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/when-the-orbits-of-these-two-satellites-of-ours-happened-to-cross/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Generally speaking, exoplanets can be any size, and they are found in a wide range of orbits. Some have massive gas atmospheres; others are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debra-fischer/generally-speaking-exoplanets-can-be-any-size-and-they-are-found-in-a/) [Debra Fischer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debra-fischer/) > [Of the bodies in the cosmos, some imitate mind and move in orbits; some imitate soul and move in a straight line, fire and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/of-the-bodies-in-the-cosmos-some-imitate-mind-and-move-in-orbits-some/) [Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/) > [Man and the earth move in orbits: what they did before, they will do again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-o-malley/man-and-the-earth-move-in-orbits-what-they-did-before-they-will-do/) [Austin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-o-malley/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over the things of the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-the-things-of-2/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [We all want to break our orbits, float like a satellite gone wild in space, run the risk of disintegration. We all want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bottoms/we-all-want-to-break-our-orbits-float-like-a-satellite-gone-wild-in/) [David Bottoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bottoms/) > [All of the stars rotate, have orbits around the center of the galaxy, and most of them go around the center of the galaxy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-roman/all-of-the-stars-rotate-have-orbits-around-the-center-of-the-galaxy/) [Nancy Roman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-roman/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over this wondrous world, I am circling around God, around ancient towers and i…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-this-wondrous/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“So long, I replied, may we all have one good flight before we rest among flowers and the orbits of hungry worms.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rawi-hage/so-long-i-replied-may-we-all-have-one-good-flight-before-we-rest/) [Rawi Hage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rawi-hage/) > [“While spinning daily on its own axis, the earth also orbits the sun (again in an anti-clockwise direction) on a path which is slightly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-hancock/while-spinning-daily-on-its-own-axis-the-earth-also-orbits-the-sun/) [Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-hancock/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over the things of the world. Perhaps I can never achieve the last, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-the-things-of/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I know without needing to hear the voice of the Creator that the stars trace out in space the orbits which His hand has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/i-know-without-needing-to-hear-the-voice-of-the-creator-that-the/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/and-it-came-to-me-then-that-we-were-wonderful-traveling-companions/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) ## More by Max Tegmark > [“My personal analysis is that the media have made the AI-safety debate seem more controversial than it really is. After all, fear sells, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/my-personal-analysis-is-that-the-media-have-made-the-ai-safety-debate/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“Chapter 2: How could an infinite space get created in a finite time? It sounds impossible. But as I mentioned, inflation is like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/chapter-2-how-could-an-infinite-space-get-created-in-a-finite-time-it/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“I suspect that if we can build such ultra-intelligent machines, then the first one will be severely limited by the software we’ve written for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/i-suspect-that-if-we-can-build-such-ultra-intelligent-machines-then/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“Aristarchos simply divided it by 3.7 and got the size of the Moon!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/aristarchos-simply-divided-it-by-3-7-and-got-the-size-of-the-moon/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“I view the measure problem as the greatest crisis in physics today.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/i-view-the-measure-problem-as-the-greatest-crisis-in-physics-today/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“the whole can contain less information than the sum of its parts—and sometimes even less than one of its parts!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/the-whole-can-contain-less-information-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-and/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. —Albert Einstein”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/in-theory-theory-and-practice-are-the-same-in-practice-they-are-not/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“Why do we perceive the world as stable and ourselves as local and unique? Here’s my guess: because it’s useful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/why-do-we-perceive-the-world-as-stable-and-ourselves-as-local-and/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“the neuron bundle comes from our eyes, ears, nose, mouth or skin. The key difference lies not in the neurons that carry this information,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/the-neuron-bundle-comes-from-our-eyes-ears-nose-mouth-or-skin-the-key/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“In other words, even though an observer moment objectively occupies less than a liter of volume and a second of time, it subjectively feels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/in-other-words-even-though-an-observer-moment-objectively-occupies/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“Neural networks have now transformed both biological and artificial intelligence, and have recently started dominating the AI subfield known as machine learning (the study…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/neural-networks-have-now-transformed-both-biological-and-artificial/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“Physics is the ultimate intellectual adventure, the quest to understand the deepest mysteries of our Universe. Physics doesn’t take something fascinating and make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/physics-is-the-ultimate-intellectual-adventure-the-quest-to/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [Our external physical reality is a mathematical structure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/our-external-physical-reality-is-a-mathematical-structure/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“it can start with something smaller than an atom and create an infinite space inside of it, containing infinitely many galaxies, without affecting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/it-can-start-with-something-smaller-than-an-atom-and-create-an/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) > [“A perfectly obedient superintelligence whose goals automatically align with those of its human owner would be like Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann on steroids: lacking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-tegmark/a-perfectly-obedient-superintelligence-whose-goals-automatically/) [Max Tegmark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) [Explore all 120 Max Tegmark quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-tegmark/) ## More Orbits quotes > [You are so fat NASA orbits satellites around you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-so-fat-nasa-orbits-satellites-around-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I know without needing to hear the voice of the Creator that the stars trace out in space the orbits which His hand has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/i-know-without-needing-to-hear-the-voice-of-the-creator-that-the/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over the things of the world. Perhaps I can never achieve the last, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-the-things-of/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“While spinning daily on its own axis, the earth also orbits the sun (again in an anti-clockwise direction) on a path which is slightly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-hancock/while-spinning-daily-on-its-own-axis-the-earth-also-orbits-the-sun/) [Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-hancock/) > [“So long, I replied, may we all have one good flight before we rest among flowers and the orbits of hungry worms.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rawi-hage/so-long-i-replied-may-we-all-have-one-good-flight-before-we-rest/) [Rawi Hage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rawi-hage/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over this wondrous world, I am circling around God, around ancient towers and i…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-this-wondrous/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [All of the stars rotate, have orbits around the center of the galaxy, and most of them go around the center of the galaxy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-roman/all-of-the-stars-rotate-have-orbits-around-the-center-of-the-galaxy/) [Nancy Roman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-roman/) > [We all want to break our orbits, float like a satellite gone wild in space, run the risk of disintegration. We all want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bottoms/we-all-want-to-break-our-orbits-float-like-a-satellite-gone-wild-in/) [David Bottoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bottoms/) > [“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over the things of the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-live-my-life-in-growing-orbits-which-move-out-over-the-things-of-2/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Man and the earth move in orbits: what they did before, they will do again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-o-malley/man-and-the-earth-move-in-orbits-what-they-did-before-they-will-do/) [Austin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-o-malley/) > [Of the bodies in the cosmos, some imitate mind and move in orbits; some imitate soul and move in a straight line, fire and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/of-the-bodies-in-the-cosmos-some-imitate-mind-and-move-in-orbits-some/) [Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/) > [Generally speaking, exoplanets can be any size, and they are found in a wide range of orbits. Some have massive gas atmospheres; others are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debra-fischer/generally-speaking-exoplanets-can-be-any-size-and-they-are-found-in-a/) [Debra Fischer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debra-fischer/) > [When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/when-the-orbits-of-these-two-satellites-of-ours-happened-to-cross/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Persons with any weight of character carry, like planets, their atmospheres along with them in their orbits.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/persons-with-any-weight-of-character-carry-like-planets-their/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/and-it-came-to-me-then-that-we-were-wonderful-traveling-companions/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) [Browse all 16 Orbits quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/orbits/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If you increase the number of space dimensions beyond three, there can be neither stable solar systems nor stable atoms. 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