2006-07-25 13:05:37 · 13 answers · asked by doorseeker 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
There is bong to be one.
2006-07-25 13:35:53 · update #1
the problem is the universe is four-dimensional, and we don't have any words to describe a four-dimensional shape, but if you can imagine a two-dimensional version then it is seems to be something like the surface of a sphere, but because of a period of super-fast expansion before the universe was a tiny fraction of a second old, called inflation, the univerese really looks flat.
read these:
http://universeadventure.org/
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
2006-07-25 16:01:13 · answer #1 · answered by warm soapy water 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Actually we don't even know enough about the shape of the Universe to affirm that the Universe is infinite or not.
Suppose we put an ant on a infinite sheet of paper. The ant is short-sighted and sees only that close to him his universe look pretty flat. If he starts walking he will never meet a boundary and never come back to the same place again. The two-dimensional plane is infinite and without bounds.
Next put the ant on a large sphere. Again our ant can not see far enough to observe any curvature. If he starts walking in one direction he will never come to a boundary, but this time he can make a roundtrip. The spherical universe is unbounded but finite.
We are in the same position as the ant, but in three dimensions. Locally our Universe seems flat and unbounded, but we don't know if we are in the 3 dimensional equivalent of the plane or the sphere. In the first case the Universe would be infinite, in the second place it would be finite.
Cosmologists study the shape of space by analyzing in great details the temperature fluctuations of the fossil Cosmic Microwave Background. At the moment these measurements are not precice enough to claim something definite.
That's where the fun and speculation starts as some really weird shapes are still possible.
In two dimensions our ant has a third possibility apart from the two I mentioned, and that is a universe shaped as a torus or a donut. We can make a torus by taking a sheet of paper, roll it up in a cylinder and then glue the two open ends together.
The torus also has a three dimensional equivalent. Take a cube and imagine the following rule: everytime we leave the cube-universe through a side, we immediately enter it again to the side opposite. It is as if the opposing sides are glued together.
Strange? Yes, but not excluded...
My current favourite shape for the Universe is the following. Think of *two* three dimensional spheres. We live inside one of the spheres. A spaceship that flies to the boundary of one sphere immediately reappears on the corresponding point on the boundary of the other sphere and continues its voyage there. It is as if the boundaries of the two spheres are somehow glued together.
Neat, isn't it?
2006-07-27 08:02:13 · answer #2 · answered by cordefr 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I also vote for sphere. (Like answer 2) It is the most logical for many reasons. (NO ONE really knows for sure.) As the other guy stated in #2 a sphere is the natural shape of things on both the microscopic level and the macroscopic. Even the galaxy disc is just part of a huge BALL or sphere with star clusters orbiting it on the outer edges. Gravity is thought to form everything into a sphere...Atoms, Planets, Stars, Galaxies, and even the Universe itself. Dark matter and Dark energy play a part but (to keep it simple) just think of a force on the outside of anything pushing in from all sides, while a inner force pushes it out. The 2 forces are in balance and THUS makes the shape round or spherical. I fully believe that this theory best describes everything including the Universe itself.
2006-08-02 20:12:12 · answer #3 · answered by Smart Dude 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sphere is the correct shape.
All natural shapes consist of spheres - at a microscopic level of course. Most all heavenly bodies consist of spheres as well - except for those that have been fractured or are still forming.
2006-07-25 20:24:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nobody knows. We don't know if the Universe is truly infinite, or if it, too, is a body as our galaxy is that has an end that can be measured, beyond which stretches something else even more vast and unknowable. We can guess, but until we manage to get there, there's no way to tell you.
2006-07-31 09:46:56 · answer #5 · answered by gilgamesh 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No shape to universe
2006-07-25 20:32:43 · answer #6 · answered by st_creations2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Strangely, recent sky surveys indicate that the universe might be the shape of a dodecahedron.
2006-07-26 03:09:39 · answer #7 · answered by aichip_mark2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The latest idea I have read is that the universe is flat. It had something to do with calculating the Hubble constant, but I don't remember the article - sorry.
2006-07-25 22:31:10 · answer #8 · answered by physandchemteach 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is no correct shape we have not been able to research the entire universe therefore we could only hypothesise
2006-07-29 21:27:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Didn't Einstein believe it to be shaped like a saddle?
2006-07-25 20:48:17 · answer #10 · answered by rebekkah hot as the sun 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋