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Mind-boggling model of the doughnut-shaped universe makes you feel really small
At first, this polished object looks like an ordinary ring. But it's much more than that. This is a model of the universe, which, according to one increasingly popular theory, is not flat, circular, spherical or saddle-shaped, but more like a "3-torus," or doughnut shape. It's also a whole lot bigger then you may have imagined.
Look closer, and you'll notice a minuscule speck on this model. It looks like a tiny flaw at first, but upon closer inspection, you'll see it's a precise wine glass shape. That's us. The tiny area depicts the known universe, showing a timeline of its entire life, from the Big Bang starting at the glass's stem, expanding to where we live today.
Called #5 Universe Ring, this thought-provoking model is an art project by a group of three designers known as To22, whose purpose in this concept is to show us just how small we really are. They've succeeded.
Via To22
By Paul at 8:53 AM ON 02/12/09
I want one.
By Michael Galvin at 11:28 AM ON 02/12/09
That's totally Photoshopped. You can tell by the way the shadows are all wrong.
By RossF18 at 2:44 PM ON 02/12/09
Homer Simpson's favorite theory of the universe
By jakv at 8:56 PM ON 02/12/09
wow a concept of a doughnut shaped universe and this is all you have to say
By LRT3 at 11:22 PM ON 02/12/09
Where do I get one????
By X-Nert at 12:43 PM ON 02/13/09
Looks to me like the "shadows" are built in, not actual light shadows
By jwebb420 at 3:46 PM ON 02/13/09
whats in the middle????
By Beady_El at 4:50 PM ON 02/13/09
JWEBB - nothing important, and perhaps nothing, period.
Only the solid volume of the torus is part of our universe; the middle - like the outside - is not accessible, even in theory. The torus is a 3-dimensional extrapolation of a 4 or 5 dimensional volume; in 3-space there's no direction you can point your spaceship that will take you even an inch closer to that central void.
By Jmat at 11:52 PM ON 02/13/09
I love doughnuts; perhaps there is jelly in the middle.
By DreadX at 4:00 AM ON 02/15/09
BEADY_EL: that's a crazy deep thought. Can you elaborate on that. If you can point your "spaceship" in any direction, 360 degrees, how can you not point toward the void? I'm trying to wrap my head around it while ignoring the 'jelly filling' comments ;)
Great topic btw
J
By scarface666 at 12:21 PM ON 02/15/09
@ Michael - why is there always some nerfherder commenting on every single photo on the net claiming it's photoshopped? get a life outside 4chan and just accept the point of the photo instead of looking for every minor flaw you can muster you freak! anyway, looks more like blender :P
An interesting concept, I'd like one myself.
By 10nitro at 7:18 PM ON 02/15/09
@ DREADX - You can't make a 3-dimensional model of a 3-torus -- it is a 4-dimensional object. The images above are misleading. You should go read the book Flatland, then Flatterland. Flatland is fairly short
By bobby at 12:08 PM ON 02/23/09
Interesting, how much is it?!
By Ladadadada at 4:44 PM ON 03/02/09
DREADX: Don't worry... anything more than 3 dimensions causes trouble wrapping your head around for anyone. You are not alone.
According to String-theory, the universe contains either 10, 11 or 26 dimensions. Wikipedia has a good reference section on String theory and Hawking's "A brief history of time" is a great place to start. We're only talking about 4 of them here though. I think I have 4 sorted but any more than that makes my head hurt.
The easiest way to understand the Torus as pictured is that because we have reduced the number of dimensions of the 3-Torus from 4 to 3 that the universe it is describing is now only 2-dimensional. Therefore, the solid part of the torus is not available to us - only the 2-dimensional surface of the torus is part of our universe. If you can imagine a ship sailing around on the surface of the torus, no matter what direction you point it in it will never reach the centre because it will keep wrapping around the torus and ending up back where it started. That's how our universe works. Even though it's 3-dimensional (or more) if you travel in a perfectly straight line in a spaceship, eventually you will end up wrapping around and end up back where you started. Of course, actually achieving this would take more time than the universe has existed for, because the universe is larger than the speed of light multiplied by the number of years the universe has existed for so far. This is also where the size of the known universe comes from. It's any part of the universe we could have traveled to if we had started just after the big bang and traveled at the speed of light until now.
By ga at 8:51 PM ON 03/06/09
@Michael. Of course it is Photoshopped (sic). You typically post-process renderings or 3-d models. What is your point?
By bob@bob.com at 3:15 PM ON 05/09/09
Vary interesting theory, I have to do a science report on the universe including building a model of it.
By Weener at 5:06 PM ON 06/03/09
Ahem... The idea of a doughnut shaped universe was first proposed by Homer Simpson in one of the episodes with Stephen Hawking.
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