Will scientists only reply, please?

Question

We all know that the universe is expanding into nothing- What is nothing?

Answer 1

Hi. The absence of something. This is not a joke answer. Where there is "no thing", when our universe expands into it there is now "some thing", even if that something is a hard vacuum. Makes even the hardest thinking scientific minds spin a bit. In the old days the maps would simply say "Thar be dragons".

Answer 2

There is the possibility that the universe was already born with an infinite size.

Take, for example, all the even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 10...). Imagine that we use these numbers to label all the things in an infinite universe (there are an infinite number of points and an infinite number of even numbers to label them).

Let's say that the universe expands by adding one point between each pair of existing points. We label the new points with the appropriate odd number (1, 3, 5...) so that the expanded universe now has points (1, 2, 3, 4, 5...).

Does this new universe take up more points? No. If we were to take the new labels and multiply them by two, we'd get the same list of numbers as we used the first time.
If this were not true, then there would be a natural number such that if we multiplied it by two, the result would not be an even number (and that is impossible: any natural number multiplied by two gives an even number).
So, our "number" universe was allowed to grow without the need for any new numbers.
In the same way, the infinite universe can grow without the need to grow into anything.

Mathematics using infinity can lead to answers that do not appear "normal".

Answer 3

Nothing is something. I would suggest you mean 'No Thing' that which has no state whatsoever not even nothing. I think it's called the empty set or null set denoted by Ø.
(see The Book of Nothing by John D. Barrow, Vintage 2001, page 166).

In the same book on pages 171/172 in my edition Aldous Huxley is quoted as writing:

"You know the formula: m over nought equals
infinity, m being any positive number? Well,
why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by nought? In which case, you have m equals infinity times nought.
That is to say that a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. That is to say that
a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn't that demonstrate the creation of the universe by an infinite power out of nothing?" (A. Huxley, Point Counter Point, Grafton, London 1928, p.135)

Surely that shows that infinite No Thing (Ø)(Nihilverse) must produce Every Thing (Omniverse), because if No Thing was anything
less than infinite there would be Everything anyway?

Words fail me in this context :-(

Answer 4

Could the term scientist be any more broad? Heck, everybody is technically a scientist i think, so hey! that means i qualify to answer the question! Woohoo! 2 points for me! Ok anyway, nobody knows for sure, some people think that nothing is nothing more basic then the absense of something, and of course as soon as the universe expands, there is no longer nothing there. Get it? Its kind of hard to understand, but once you do it seems really easy. Well thats what i believe, other people believe that it is expanding into dark matter, which is a theoratical nontangible, substance that doesnt reflect light.

Answer 5

The Universe expands or the Universe contracts it depends on the final value observed for the Hubble Constant.
However it is a misconception to think that the Universe expands into something. You can think of space as being a physical space in the Universe, it can be filled or unfilled with mass. However without the Universe there is no space. One of the best analogies I've heard was to think of the Universe as being the surface of a balloon. It can expand or contract as you blow up the balloon or let air out.

Hope this helps

Answer 6

Okay, I'm a geophysicist rather than astrophysicist but i'll give it a go.
Obviously you understand 'nothing' in everyday terms but outside the expanding universe sapce doesn't exist because there are no dimensions (x,y,z,time and the rest). This means that the universe isn't expanding into anything. It's truely 'nothing'.
I can't remember who said it (maybe Rutherford?) but here's a quote (paraphrased): "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum physics has not understood it".

Answer 7

I believe your question is, "If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?" There is no physics that explains what is beyond the edge of the universe. It is theorized that the edge of the universe is expanding at the speed of light. Therefore there is no way to measure what is beyond it. I wouldn't say that it is expanding into nothingness. It isn't nothingness. What we typically call nothingness, namely a vacuum in space, is itself being created at the edges of the universe as it expands.

I have read some entertaining explanations that since by definition, light cannot escape what we call our universe (since the edges are expanding at the speed of light), or universe is itself a black hole.

Answer 8

There isn't anything beyond the Universe the Universe is all there is therefore it is not expanding 'into' anything at all it is just expanding.

Answer 9

It's darkmatter and it's not expanding into nothing. The Galaxies are just moving away from one another-faster and faster. A result of the big bang

Answer 10

I'm not a scientist, but that is one of the best questions I have read on YA for ages. Also some of the best answers too. Good effort from all who replied