We sense three dimensions. We move through a fourth. But various proven phenomena can be explained (so far) through the existence of a fifth dimension.
For example, electrons “move” from one “side” of an atom to another side without passing through the center.
Light moves in a wave, with no three-dimensional construct to explain its constantly shifting direction.
If you fire an electron past a positively charged plate, it doesn’t travel to the left of it, or to the right of it. It travels on both sides of it. Yet there’s still only one electron.
The easiest fifth-dimension construct to witness is gravity. Gravity doesn’t cause objects to travel “out of the way” of the straightest path between two points. Space-time itself is curved, so that if we could “see” the fifth dimension, we would “see” that the curved path an object takes is actually the shortest path. For instance, because the Earth is curved, the shortest distance from Chicago to Europe passes through Iceland, but on a flat map, that seems to be a curved route.
“Curved Space”. Okay. That’s an explanation I’ve heard and can relate to. Great examples. Thanks!