I cannot comprehend how the universe is infinate. Does there always have to be something beyond something?

Question

To Graeme.

I agree with you. I remember when I was young I caught a glimpse of a film that touched on the idea that our universe could be just the size of one single atom on the thumbnail of another human being. Thats a weird though.

To Lestat De Li

Thats an interesting idea. Its like a dog chasing his tail though. He is just too stupid to realise it is his own tail. Im sure humans do not have the intellect to understand the universe yet. I think travelling in circles although infinite in theory isnt really infinite. Because to break infinity you just travel in a different direction. E.g instead of rotating the earth travel up into space or down into the earth. I understand the point you are making though.

Answer 1

This is the model proposed by Stephen Hawking, and perhaps the most widely accepted:
The universe is finite BUT it has no boundaries. It's like the Earth. The Earth is finite, right? But you can take off on a airplane from Los Angeles and keep flying in circles for the rest of your life without ever hitting a boundary or seeing a "Dead End" sign. So, in a way, the Earth is infinite. The universe is like that, you just have to extend the concept to four dimensions (don't even try to imagine it).

Answer 2

Infinity is really a theory, because while we can describe how infinity must work and use inifinity, we cannot actually test or demonstrate that it exists.

Consider an infinite number of people tossing a coin an infinite number of times. Because there is an infinite number of tossers, there is a guarantee that one will toss heads 100,000,000 times, because there is a nonzero chance of it happening. However, here's the kicker, no one will toss heads every time, because they have 0% chance of doing it. Any help?

The universe does not demonstrate infinity in a way that we can precieve. We can measure, however inaccurately the age of the universe, so it is a finite thing. The absence of the universe or anything to view time, would demonstrate infinity, however (endless void).

Will the universe end or go on forever...well, this isn't exactly clear. We aren't exactly sure what will happen after everything is super cooled and energy become exceedingly scarce. Do we pass beyond the theoretical limit of minimum temperature? What happens then? We don't know.

Answer 3

It seems to me that everything in nature is circular. Season follows season, plants die and new plants grow from their seeds. Vegetation is eaten by animals, passed through the gut as dung, falls to the ground, decays to be absorbed by new growth of vegetation. Everything is infinite.
The sign for infinity is a figure eight, anything travelling along it will never reach the end. So why should not the universe be the same? My belief is that we cannot see the end because it disappears into a black hole and makes another circle at the other side. There are many things that we are not clever enough to understand but that does not mean that they do not exist. Aristotle believed that the mass of chemicals that constitute the human body, the building blocks from which we are made, simple reform to make a different entity after we die, continuing the infinite circle.

Answer 4

When speaking of the scope of the universe, everything that is detectable by any method is within. Right now, there is radiation in the background that provides evidence of the big bang. It's actually rather interesting, becuase it is a rather smooth boundary. And everything within that boundary is the universe. And this boundary is expanding, which means the universe is expanding.

But anything that has a boundary is finite (under typical geometry rules). But how do we measure it? Since the speed of expansion is not constant, saying approx. 13 billion light years is not that good. There is an article that estimates that the universe is about 10^(120) bits, where each interaction would take up 1 bit. Even though 10^(120) is a huge number, it is still very finite.

Answer 5

Infinate means going on forever. Something that is infinate has no ending - ever. This is why most people who are not astronomers or physicists find it hard to comprehend because they are used to things having an end of some sort.

If you can't get your head round the Universe being infinate then try just thinking of it as so incredibly large that no matter how far and how fast you travelled (and for how long) you would NEVER even get close to the end (in fact there would still be as far to travel as when you started!). Yes I know it sounds freaky but accept that some things are like that and let the physicists lose sleep over it, not you!

Answer 6

properly acceptable solutions from Dwayne and the interior sight answer from Jonathan.And the question from the author shows that he/she has the properly acceptable information that area can not end. in spite of the actual incontrovertible truth that the UNIVERSE is purely the remember from the vast bang theory ( led to by employing God or in the different case) and so is definitely finite.yet area is countless because there is not any large Wall Of area without area on the different part.So planets and stars/suns ought to no longer inhabit maximum area regardless of the indisputable fact that the gap will nevertheless be everywhere! area , the awesome FRONTIER ! thanks for giving the prospect for me to grant you the perfect answer. also the perception of ending up the position we all started vacationing from is infantile. he's speaking as if area is a global planet . area is extra of a FLAT EARTH sort of theory than a global planet theory. damn bloody short existence for human beings , that's not straightforward . i favor to stay perpetually so i will go back and forth perpetually by potential of area ! So time might want to bypass one perpetually too. So do we agree that the universe and area at the instantaneous are not the same and that the universe is the made from a achievable large bang and that countless area is previous that?

Answer 7

Try this for "size" ! Think about it the other way. Things can also get infinitely smaller. We just don't know where abouts we are along the line. One end is the "very big" & one end is the "very small". We could be anywhere along this scale. Years ago people could not comprehend the world being round. Therefore, as time goes by, your question will be answered, but, very very, infinitely, slowly.

Answer 8

The universe is of a definite size - otherwise how could it be expanding? - but is infinite in that It has no boundries, due to the way that space curves in on itself. If you travelled through the universe in one direction, eventually you would arrive back at the same place.
I think.

Answer 9

It is a finite universe expanding into an infinate vacum. Imaging that you drop a pebble into the centre of a pond and the ripples spead out from the place you dropped the peeble, then imaging that everytime they come close to the edge of the pond that edge moves further away, it's something like that.

Answer 10

The universe is definatley not infinite in accordance with olbers paradox. It is in fact finite and expanding. The universe will then collapse back on itself because the is enough mass to exceed the critical density as stated in the Quran.