What is the universe expanding into?

Question

If we assume the it all started with the 'Big Bang' and that nothing, including time, existed beforehand, and that the universe is expanding away from the 'bang' inself, what is the universe expanding within?

Answer 1

Dratted religion. Just ignore all of them!
The universe is not expanding away from the 'bang', it is just expanding. All points in the universe started at the 'bang', there is no center and no edge. I know that this makes no sense but every physics student eventually has a moment of revalation when they realise that visualising quantum or relatavistic phenomena just does not work. There is no outside or at least there is no point in every worrying about it because anything 'outside' can have no influence on the 'inside' and vice versa which is effectivly saying that the idea is meaningless.

Answer 2

Don't assume that there was nothing prior to the big bang. It seems highly unlikely that the big bang came from nothing. However, the universe according to string theory has 11 dimensions. The universe is not expanding into anything. This is three dimensional thinking. The universe is expanding on another dimension, which you cannot see and will have a difficult time comprehending unless you are a mathematician.

Answer 3

If the Universe is a finite entity it contains masses(galaxies) each galaxies has its own expansion rate.
The galaxies must exist inside suspended sometype of medium.Therefore the medium and the galaxies would have to expand if the expansion is real.
Galaxies continualy change and expand. whether the medium in which the galaxies expand into is alluded to be space-time.
General relativity is needed to be applied in order to explain space time fabric.
The Big Bang theory does not state that nothing existed before the Big Bang. Because the big bang had to expand into something. but it does not define it.
Note Big bang is just a theory of Creation and does not really mention how our Creator did it.

Answer 4

we may be able to say that the Universe is increasing by using making use of Hubble's regulation which tells us that a galaxy's speed of recession (the speed at which that is shifting faraway from us) is proportional to its distance from us, i.e. a galaxy further away strikes faraway from us swifter than one on the point people. The pull of gravity isn't as tremendous on those further away so that they bypass swifter. this can nicely be difficult to understand for the reason that that could mean we are interior the centre if each little thing is shifting faraway from us - so attempt to imagine the galaxies as dots on a balloon. As you inflate the balloon, each of the dots get further faraway from one yet another and in case you're sitting on one dot, it would not look like you're shifting yet rather that each little thing else is. There are 3 fashions for the increasing universe: the first is the position the mass contained interior the Universe isn't tremendous sufficient to conquer the speed of enlargement. The Universe will amplify always. the 2d is the position the speed of enlargement isn't sufficient to conquer the mass and gravity pulls each little thing again to the position it all started. The severe kind is the position the Universe includes sufficient mass to maintain away from non-stop enlargement, yet no longer a lot that it will crumple - it is going to stay in a unmarried position, no longer increasing or contracting. I keep in recommendations interpreting that the initial burst of sunshine from the massive Bang speeded up out in a halo of sunshine and if shall we get to the modern 'area' of the Universe, we may see that mild, yet does no longer have the capacity to be certain some thing previous it, for the reason that mild hasn't reached there yet! i like that theory XD

Answer 5

Don't listen to any of the craps said about your good question. You are absolutely right. The universe is expanding. The big evidence is the movement and rotation of satellites. Satellites now rotate a greater distance than they did long back. This is actually not a hypothesis; this is something I personally analyzed.
Regarding the "big bang" theory, it did exist and all knowledge about this matter has not being emptied into our brains. Our brains have no knowledge or more precisely, little knowledge about this matter. Its all within God's knowledge. Part of your question is explained in the Holy Quran (the holy book of Muslims).
Good question anyway. Thanks.

Answer 6

Good question. The universe is not necessarily sitting in some empty other space (aether). And should not be thought of as an explosion.

If you want to visualize the expansion, think of yourself as an ant living on the surface of a balloon. You cannot crawl off the balloon, you are restricted to live on the 2 dimensional surface of the balloon. Just as we are constrained to move in 3 dimensions.

If someone is blowing up the blow the ant lives on, the ant sees its universe expanding. Its not necessarily expanding into anything, well anything it knows in its 2D universe, just like we are not really expanding into anything we know in our 3D universe.

This is one reason, people like extra dimensions in new physics models. They help visualize these sorts of questions and put them into a physical context.

Answer 7

bit of a poser but as a follower of string theory and the multiverse which if you beleive in basicly says there are countless billions of universe's most of them chaos energy and antimatter unlike our own which had an abunance of matter due to a very special number which was once beleiaved to prove the exsistance of god but any way im rambling if you look at a vacum if you go small enough down to a planks lengh you find quantum foam it is this foam that is expanding .and we do not move into anything as such . but hard to get your head round all the same

Answer 8

Good one, i've never really thought about that. However I suspect that the Universe is creating space rather than expanding into it, therefore the answer to your question is 'nothing'.

Answer 9

It is not so much the universe is expanding, more that the galaxies are moving away from each other. So therefore, nothing.

Answer 10

As you can imagine, when something "explodes" all the small peaces "tryies to get" as far as say can from the "core"...(due to the force of the explosion). But at this "magnitude" (refering to the univers) at this point we are "newbies...". First not all the scientists are agreed that there was a "bigbang" and if so, how such a "HUGE" planet was "previosly" formed...