Wormholes are also doing the same thing. In our three-dimensional world, we think that the shortest way to go from Milky Way Galaxy to Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years long. But if our 3-dimensional space is curved or bent into the 4th dimension, then it’s possible that we can find a shorter, better shortcut. Now, it is very difficult for us to imagine the 4th dimension because we all live in 3 dimensions. But to some extent, you can understand it better if you compare 2 dimensions and 3 dimensions. We’ll give you another example. This is the world map.
If you want to go from Delhi to New York by flight, what would be the shortest route of the flight? You’d say, a straight line connecting Delhi to New York with the flight flying over Africa. But in reality, this would not be the shortest route. Because you’re thinking in two dimensions. The shortest route would be to travel over Finland, Sweden, passing by Iceland and Greenland to reach New York. Which on 2-dimensions looks like a longer route unnecessarily flying to the North. But if you look at it in 3D, it looks obvious that it is the shortest route.
In 1957, scientist John Wheeler published a paper on Einstein’s Rosen bridges. He compared it with a similar analogy. He gave an example of an apple and an insect is eating that apple, a worm. It reaches from one side of the apple to the other while eating it or travelling through the middle. Instead of travelling on the surface of the apple like our aeroplanes travel around the surface of the earth, Earth’s circumference. By doing this, the worm will travel a shorter distance. In a way, it has taken a shortcut in space-time. And this term was named by Wheeler as a Wormhole and this is where the word Wormhole Originated.
