how can we assume that space goes on forever without end is that even possible?

Question

we are WAY too small to ever know that

i looked at this video and i thought about it im like how
is it possible to know that were WAY too small

look at this video you'll see how small we are

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=video&file=we_are_very_small.wmv

Answer 1

When I consider that concept, and someone suggests there is an end (like a wall?), I have to ask "then what's beyond THAT?".

My only answer to that, though, belongs in the spirituality section!

Kinda blows your mind, though, doesn't it?!

Answer 2

I have no idea how anyone could assume space has an end. Same thing with time. I have no idea how anyone could assume that time has a beginning or an end. I suppose some people just can't comprehend something that has always been around forever and will always be. But for me it is the other way around. It is easier for me to think of space and time both being infinite in all directions.

Answer 3

We know the 'universe' is bounded, but not necessarily if 'space' is bounded. 'Space' could extend infinitely, but what is space?

Yes, we are tiny. The most recent data suggests the universe is over 150 billion light years across, composed of hundreds of billions of galaxies!


And now imagine the universe from the smallest scale...

Quarks and gluons make up protons and neutrons, units nearly 1^-34 m in length...so small! These units make up some protons and neutrons that form a nucleus of an atom, but this is so small! Imagine a grain of sand in the middle of new york city, this is the nucleus! Now at the edge of the city, hundreds of thousands of times farther away from the nucleus, electrons are moving randomly around the nucleus!

Now imagine billions of these little things making up basic molecules, wow! Tiny little things that can eventually form things like nucleic acids which can bond together to make polymers, DNA! And then billions of these linkages eventually form microorganisms, tiny little things that live on us all but we can't see them! And you can just keep on zooming out...zooming out...


Imagine if there were billions of universes outside of ours...and what could be beyond that?

Answer 4

Our minds work in a finite way. We can't think of anything that does not have an end to it. This is probably true so we can keep our sanity. But if the universe did have an end, you would have to know that there is something beyond even that. I haven't watched your video yet but this is just my understanding of space.

Answer 5

Since space is expanding, then there is not end. The end just gets further away. The universe does not need to have an edge in order to be finite (has an end). All the universe needs to be is a sphere, and no one could ever find the end, edge.

Answer 6

It reminds me of that 123 Contact! skit they had about infinity. Does anyone else remember that show? Loved it, especially Mathnet on Fridays. Anyway. The skit was, one kid tried to figure out the highest number ever. The other kid said, "Add one". The first kid would then say one higher than his previous number. They kept coming back to them doing it throughout the show, getting higher and higher and more and more tired. That's what space is like. Just like with numbers, there's always something beyond the farthest you can imagine. How could it end? If there's an end, there's still got to be something beyond it. And on, and on, and on.

Answer 7

If the universe HAS an end, or edge, what would you expect to find there?

This question reminds me of the age-old query about the edge of the Earth.

Answer 8

when you get to the end you start coming back from the other side, much like going around the world...
where does the world start and end?