How can space be infinate?

Question

surely there must be an end. But if you reached that end what would be on the other side?

Must there be an end?

Also I know we are in space, But where is space and how many different spaces are there? could this be the only universe or are there other?

Answer 1

The answer is a bit difficult. Space itself is not infinite. Like everything else it has its limits. Beyond what we know as space, or the universe there is nothing. Since the big bang the cosmos has been expanding at the speed of light. This may seem very fast to us, but in Astronomical terms it's about average. The parts that haven't been reached by our expanding universe are literally large amounts of nothingness. Our brains can't comprehend nothingness and thus most people can't accept this as an answer, but as of now it's largely considered the truth. The whole belief that we only use up 10% of our brain is true in the sense that this limits our understanding of the celestial cosmos. If you reach the end of space you'd find nothing as ironic as it sounds. And to answer your question about how many other realms of space there are I know of only 2 logical answers. 1: Every atom in itself contains millions of universes that also contain atoms in which even more universes exist. Your fingernail may contain a near limitless amount of Universes. The other answer is that for every action and every choice we've made there is an alternate dimension or universe with a different choice or action we could've made. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

The universe can be infinite by always expanding. The universe is expanding, so there never really is an end because when that end is reached, it expands to be further away.

On the other side of the universe there is basically nothing. A nothing so profound, we cannot imagine it. There does not really need to be an end to the universe. The universe can keep on expanding forever.

Space is everywhere. Everywhere we look, there is space. There is a theory out there that does say other universes exist. This theory says if anything can happen, it will happen. If not in this universe, than in another. The number of universes can be infinite.

Answer 3

About 12 billion years ago, when the universe was an infinitely small point of supercondensed energy, the Big Bang happened. Ever since then, space was expanding, thus becoming larger and colder. There are 2 theories. One is that space will infinitely continue expanding, the stars will all burn out, and the universe will be cold and dark, without any planets, any stars, any life. Another theory is that space will eventually begin condensing and return to its original supercondensed state. Afterwards, the Big Bang may happen again, and the whole cycle will repeat infititely, for billions or trillions of years.




Space is both finite and infinite.



PS. Our space is a mere membrane in the 11-dimention space-time continuum.


Consult the String Theory!!!!!

Answer 4

Your questions (particularly the last few) are more philosophical in nature than scientific.

There has to be an end to the universe, but that doesn't mean it has to have an edge. The end is everchanging for it's in a current state of expansion; it defines where our universe in a sense "stops" just like you can think of the boundary of an expanding balloon.

To address your next question, "Where is space?" Space, OUR space I mean, is what allows you movement in any of the three dimensions of itself--up/down, backward/forward, and left/right. Time is also thought to be a 4th dimension, in that one cannot move outisde some passage of time also occuring. There very well can be different "spaces" out there, and by "spaces" I get the feeling you mean universes. If I'm right, you'd be referring to the concept of other "spacetime continnuums," of which there is no evidence for their NONexistence.

String Theory goes a bit more into the concept of there being more than one (our) universe, so look up some more information under that if you're thoroughly interested. What I can tell you is that from my understanding of String Theory, "Big Bangs" happen all the time--when two what are called "branes" (short for membranes) interact with one another by colliding. These "branes" can be thought of as slices of bread--all contributing to the existence of some whole "loaf" which is of a much higher dimension than any one of the branes themselves.

Answer 5

The universe is expanding, therefore, by definition it cannot be infinite.

Space itself is finite.

Remember, if something is infinite is has to be unbounded. Something infinite by definition can't expand or ever grow larger because by doing so you're bounding it.


Though, it likely doesn't have an edge. I'll leave you to figure out that one.


Talking about what could exist beyond our visible universe is purely speculation, and we probably won't know what is out there for a long long time.


I personally imagine there are probably an infinite number of universes extending over an infinite energetic geometry. There is likely some inate property of thermodynamics that allows fluctuations of vacuum energy to end up forcing a big bang.

Answer 6

Because SPACE IS NOTHING .-EMPTINESS -VOID ,
To have some limits,athing should be a thing .should have a shape .shape sets limits to things .Shapegivesboundaries . So tobe without boundary ,thre should be noshape ,and to be withour shape ,athng shpould necessarily be "NOTHING" oNLY NOTHING alone can be shapeless .Only shapeless things alone can be infinite as it is nothing .Even gases have shapes.as they haveatoms and molecules and and even vast quantities assume the shapes and limits .Butvoid being nothing , has no shape and has there foreno boundary and henceno limits .It is infinity.Inconceivable .It has not directions, nobeginning ,no middle and noending , no depthand no height .asit is nothing .If here are more than one space ,ten every space mus haveshape and limit and should be markedby boundary and separatedform the next space . when it has a boundary, it cannot be a "NOTHING' It should be a "THING" space being nothing , it has noboundaryand onethat has no boundary can not exist inmultiple numbers .whan universe means the galactic matter ,there can eany number of them in space tht is unassesable . Thouth mattercanhae limits , the number of universes that existinsepare chunks /masses of matter must be innumerable as the depth of the vast pace is unascertainable , it being infinity.We can only count the number that is within our capacity to explore or reach by any mehtod of technology and thatwould not decide the totalnumber of theuniverses in the space at any time .

Answer 7

The earth has no end, but is not infinite.
Space, Like the Earth, Has no End. That doesn't mean that Space is Round, like the Earth. The earth is in the most efficient three dimensional shape. Therefore, Space should Be in the Most Efficient Shape, relative to the amount of dimensions it Exists in. Seemingly Infinite.

Answer 8

This is one of the universe's great myteries...no one really knows the answer to this.
If General Relativity is correct, then space is simultaniously "boundless and closed"...much like the earth's surface...i.e.--if you could walk the full circumference of the earth, you would never reach "the end", even though it's a finite measurement...like a flat surface (2 dimensions) curved into a third dimension (a sphere).
Many beleive space (3 dimensions) is curved into a 4th indetectable space dimension...into a 4 dimensional shape called a hypershere....and, if string theory is true, there could be as many as 10 dimensions!!

Answer 9

Actually, General Relativity states that if the universe has no curvature, the universe is open and infinite. If it has negative curvature, again it will be open and infinite. If it has positive curvature, it will be closed and finite. We don't know which one it is yet.
This is determined by a value called the critical density which is roughly equal to 10^-26 Kg/m^3. If the density of the universe is greater than this, it will be finite. If it is less than or equal, it will be infinite.

Answer 10

Hi. There are different 'strengths' to infinity. For example, the number of points between any two other points is infinite. The number of points on any given plane is infinite. The number of coordinates within a cube is infinite. But obviously the 'strengths' of each infinity in these three examples is not the same. Space acts the same way within the volume we can see, even though that volume is finite. It is not possible for me to imagine a 'stronger' infinity but that's the infinity you are asking about.