if the universe is expanding what is it expanding into?

Answer 1

space - i think its trying to find a black hole to squeeze into - a bit like me getting into my jeans in the morning - i'm expanding but i can still squeeze into my jeans

Answer 2

In space time the big bang only happened a couple of seconds ago, the reson being that time and space are realative. In our time the bang happened millions and milions of years ago. I do not know the time the astronomers believe the bang to have taken place. A simple way to explain this is to view a controlled explosion without resistance, say the bomb was a mile in the atmosphere. When the bomb went off after ignition the force of the explosion would throw debris in all directions at the same rate. If you timed the explosion it would only last a few seconds or maybe minuets before it settled down. Now take an explosion so big we can't even begin to imagine the ferocity (the big bang) them measure the size of a human being, think about the size of the earth, compare the Earth to the sun, compare the sun to the solar system, compare the solar system to the universe as we know it and so on. The earth is not in the same place in space it was 24 hous ago it is about 24 million mies further out into space moving from the force of the explosion but so is everything else in our universe. The the Earth moves at the same velocity every second of the day so say you live to 70, when you were born you would have been
70 x 365 x 24 million miles nearer creation (plus extra days for leap years of course). The term often used for out side our universe is the cosmos.
The human brain has little more inteligence than a monkey as far as space is concerned. If we can survive for another million years our ancestors may label us 'Desroy themselves man' and be compared to the 'Bog man' or Neathandral man. Even after a million years man will not fully understand the universe. Where you died will be in a desert in space never again to see a live human being.
(hope your not lonely)

Answer 3

The universe is not expanding into anything. Once our universe has expanded far enough apart from each of the physical bodies,gasses, and so on; it will become dark space. (no matter) once the universe has reached a critical point in which it has expanded as far as gravity can hold it together; it will be at which time the sun has exhausted it's fuel and will explode. Thus the end of the universe.

Answer 4

If the universe is gas, and the something was a volume, then your question would make sense.

There is no edge of the universe. If you go far enough in one direction then you come back from the other. Space time is like a higher-dimensional analog of the mobius strip.

If you have a reference point on the strip, then travel in one direction (only one to travel on a mobius strip) you traverse a certain distance until you return to the point. If the mobius strip were expanding, the distance you would have to travel to bump back into that point would be increasing over time.

Now on your mobius strip if you have two objects & a point they can expand along the strip, but there is a maximum distance after which the distance between the two decreases again. They expand into the strip, because the framework within which position of matter can be measured is distance.

The what that the mobius strip of space-time is expanding into cant be measured so well because no instrument we know works outside of space-time and allows us to measure spacetime. Other distances dont really exist.. because its distance that is itself understanding.

It could be some conservative something.. like a rubber band where the available stuff that distance is distributed over doesnt change in quantity, but changes is nature of interaction.

Any real exploration in this direction is, at best, with current technology, and exercise in philosophy.

Answer 5

To answer this question, think of an ant walking on the surface of an expanding bubble. Since the ant can only see in two dimensions, asking where the original bubble came from, and where it is expanding, makes no sense to it.

But to us, the answer to both these questions is obvious: the third dimension.

Now imagine we are the ants, on the surface of our expanding universe or bubble.

Then it is clear now that the universe is expanding in hyperspace, and that the original Big Bang took place in hyperspace. If we cannot visualize hyperspace, it is only because we spend our time in the third dimension.

Answer 6

It doesn't expand into anything, exactly. Outside of the universe, space and time don't exist, so beyond the boundary, there is literally nothing, not even a boundary. It might help if you think of it as expanding into higher dimensions, beyond the 3 space and 1 time we are used to.

Answer 7

Depends on if you beleive in the alternate realiy theory. If you do then the universe is expanding into the space between universes. If it keep expanding universes will merge. But the chances are it will start to contract before then.

Answer 8

The theoretical physicists are still trying to figure out if the universe -is- expanding. And they are a very long way from being able to say yeah or neigh with any certainty. Until we are reasonably certain that it is happening, it is pointless to conjecture about where.

Besides, anything beyond the edge of the uiverse would, by definition, have no effect on anything -in- the universe.

Answer 9

A singularity.

The 'edge' of the universe a singularity, think about it, time and space were created in the same instance from the singularity that was the big bang. Space and time exploded outwards at the speed of light, so the matter at the edge of the universe is still at time = 0.

Answer 10

it is becoming some thing, where before there was no thing.

how do we know it's expanding?, we don't for sure, its a theory. as we become smarter and more technologically advanced we are able to measure more of the universe, but what we measure is a very small part.

Answer 11

to be fair though, has anyone ever seen the edge of the universe? physically speaking it should be expanding away at a speed greater than light into nothingness. but just to be picky, who really knows it is?