if i travel to the end of the universe in a space ship, do the laws of the universe keep me from traveling out

Question

read it in a book once...........kinda neat

or could i travel in an empty space of nothingness?

Answer 1

Well, as has been mentioned before, some scientists think that there's no end to the universe. This means that it's finite, but has no boundaries - called the "no boundary proposal," and it can be imagined if you take a mental picture of the globe. If you set of, say "East" (and traveled far enough), you wouldn't get to the end of the universe - you'd arrive right back where you started.

Though, what if the universe was finite, but there were boundaries? That is, you could go to the edge of the universe? What would it look like?

Well, theoretically, we wouldn't be able to get very close at all to the edge of the universe. See, when the universe was created, temperatures were absolutely PHENOMENAL, so great, in fact, that the subatomic particles floating around in space were opaque - that is, space was white, not black. After 380,000 years, the universe cooled to a temperature that allowed the transmission of electromagnetic radiation (light), and the universe became clear.

Let me tell you what I think. See, as space expands, time expands with it - time cannot proceed before space, because there wouldn't be anything to expand *into*. Well, because the boundary of the universe is expanding at almost the speed of light (it's accelerating!), that means time doesn't pass very quickly at all - the laws of physics state that the faster an object moves, the slower time passes for it. Well, since the boundary of the universe cannot experience time (due to time dilation, or perhaps because time cannot go past the boundary of the universe, and because it can't, time doesn't "flow"), this means that the boundary conditions of the universe wouldn't have changed. Essentially, the conditions that existed right after the big bang would be "preserved" - the incredible temperatures, incredible energies, etc. And, if we tried to travel far enough, we would run into the singularity found at the beginning of the universe.

[Note: please disregard the feasibility of actually doing this. This is why we call it a "thought experiment."]

So, we would find the singularity (or at least, get really really close to it) conditions. Now, imagine the universe like a circular tablecloth, and we're at the edge. We've just found the singularity condition, like that which existed at the beginning of the universe. Now, if you moved around the circumference of the tablecloth, would you still find the same conditions? Laws of physics say yes, as the universe expanded uniformly - as space and time expanded equally, they would have preserved the same conditions that the first spot did.

But, isn't this an inherent contradiction? The idea that we can find a singularity in many, many positions (indeed, an infinite number of positions around the border of our tablecloth) violates the concept of our universe's singularity - a point of infinite density and infinite curvature of spacetime in only one spot. Well, perhaps we're going about our geometry all wrong. Perhaps it doesn't look like a flat tablecloth at all.

While we're there, let's go back to that. Suppose, for ease, that the Earth is in the center of the universe (huzzah for reviving geocentric models!), and that if we wanted to travel to the edge of the universe, we just had to go in a straight line. If we send several astronauts off to different parts of the edge, it would look like spokes on a bicycle tire. Now, when each got to his destination, he would find the same thing that every other astronaut would find - the singularity and beginning conditions of the universe. What, though, if they each found each other?

See, our cosmology now has a flaw - finding the beginning singularity of the universe in an many, many different spots. What if you took the edge of the tablecloth, gathered it up and bunched it all together? It would end up looking like a raindrop or a balloon - the universe would bulge, but then come together in a point at some spot. Now, to someone very, very small on the inside, it would look like they were traveling in a straight line towards the edge of the universe - but, in all actuality, they were traveling in a CURVED line toward the singularity! If our astronauts followed this line, they would all end up at the same spot! This solves the singularity problem, because... well, now it's a real singularity.

Now, isn't THAT something? That's my theory of cosmology. =)

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

basically scientists believe that the universe has no end. if you were to reach the theoretical end of the universe, you would end up right back where you started from, on the opposite end. think of it as travelling in one direction on earth, going all the way around and going right back to where you were. if there is anything outside this universe it's definitely something we would never be able to comprehend or even see, we're just too inferior to really know.

Answer 3

Check out String theory

Answer 4

The universe has no end. That sounds really scary, but it is the truth.

Answer 5

you'll keep traveling to empty space of nothing.

Answer 6

There is no end. So that question will never be answered.

Answer 7

we will never know ! atleast in the mortal world !