where does it end??

Question

Where does the universe end? I can't grasp the concept of it never ending. all things end somewhere, don't they?

Answer 1

Yup it has to end! I mean....it has to!!

And i got another question...What is outside the unicverse? I mean it must be in something....shouldn't it?

Answer 2

There are two theories, both dealing with energy, because energy is the math nerds use to describe the endlessness of the universo!

Dyson wrote lot about this. He said that one is called the OPEN MODEL where space goes on forever and ever. and energy will eventually get more and more dispersed and thin and there will essentially be "the nothing" just like on Never Ending Story. He said that humans would have to cope and survive in this universe with less and less energy or die (In about 100 billion years).

The second is called the CLOSED MODEL. It is as can be expected. Rather than a wall, it is a dementional aberration, where the universe goes on in every direction for a very long time and then loops back into itself at the other end. like a mobius strip, except in 4 dimensions. Eventually all the energy would reach a low point and then everything would cycle through the 4 dimensional loop and head back towards a universal center, where a SUPER MASSIVE gravity well will cause a giant black hole, which will cause a big bang again. Now the challenge there is to survive with out any suns over the course of billions of years while the universe is going through puberty, and then survive the SUPER MASSIVE big bang... again.

Answer 3

I admit, this is a very difficult concept to grasp, similar to the concept of infinity. Some scientists claims that there is indeed an "edge" of the universe, and that it is currently moving away from us. This stems from the Big Bang Theory; at first there was a dot of space so tiny it had no space, but then it exploded into the universe we know today, which continues to expand. Imagine a balloon slowly being blown up (although a balloon starts with some space). If you were shrunk and placed inside the balloon, how would you ever find the end, especially if it continued to get bigger? You would have to travel in a direction faster than the balloon could expand. But if you hit the edge of the balloon, would you know it was the edge? You may end up walking around the inside edge of the balloon forever, never knowing you were at the edge.

Answer 4

legioner raises a good accurate point.

Look at an atom for instance. The distance between the electrons and the nucleus is almost infinite compared with the width of any of the individual elements (not taking into account the lower energy particles).

While we are quoting movies the Matrix proposes something that may well be true.

If in the future computers are capable of infinite computing power then simulated reality could well exist, which would mean the chance of each of us being a simulation is far greater than being the ones that the simulation is running for. Pure speculation but worth thought.

But to answer your point, the universe is essentially endless, if it is expanding forever (which it seems to be) then by the time you got to where the current boundary exists it would have moved almost as far as you travelled outwards.

Apply the same thinking to time, civilisation began 10,000 years ago, the universe has been in existence for billions of years. Who can comprehend a billion years? For that matter who can comprehend a billion anythings let alone infinite?

Answer 5

On the scale that humans think, there is no end. However, scientifically, it does appear that the universe is finite and expanding.

There are many ideas about our universe only being one "pocket' universe of many.

Another thought is that there may be different dimensions that could co-exist within the volume of our own space and time that is undetectable by our current technology.

Incidentally, some physicists think that the boundary or edge of space is a "brane" (try a google search for more info).

Answer 6

It doesn't end, it wraps around again. The universe is like a race track.

So if you go far enough in one direction, you end up where you started. Weird, huh?

Here's something even weirder... There is more than one universe and sometimes they intersect. When that happens, we have much easier access to parallel worlds and dimensions because the other universe have different physical properties than our own.

Hard to wrap our brains around all of that.

Nice question!

Answer 7

They say it doesn't end because the universe works on something called entropy. Everything gives off energy and then energy has to go somewhere so it continues to expand. The universe is like how you can always add one to a number and it keeps going and going. You can always add one more just like the universe can always expand.

Answer 8

Do you remember the movie MIB-1 about pearl sized galaxy? So even whole universe might actually be as size of a pearl and no one knows today what is the real size.

Answer 9

Well Ms.Sawgirl the one thing you are over looking is you and humanity itself is trying to name something that cannot be named.We have created whole religions that have killed millions of people trying to answer your question and basically the answer is there is no answer no name . So keep asking and keep believing and keep killing ???????

Answer 10

light speed multiplied by the time of the big bang = distance,beyond that time does not apply