The extent of the universe.?

Question

So, the universe is always expanding, which means that it must have an "end," or a limit. So let's pretend that you could travel to the edge of the universe and survive... what would happen when you reached the end? What would happen if you tried to go past the end? What would you hit? Sorry if this sounds stupid, I was just thinking about it. And I don't mean what would happen to you, I mean, what's there?

Answer 1

I think the commonly held belief is that the universe, while finite (not going on forever) is a closed surface. This means there is no edge. If the universe is like the surface of a sphere, trying to find the edge would be like trying to find the edge of the earth. On earth, if you head out in one direction and keep going, you eventually end back where you started without ever finding the edge.

Another interesting idea is that the universe is shaped like a mobius strip (see my source). In this case, if you set off in one direction in the universe, you would eventually come back where you started, but you would be flipped around. Your heart would be on the right side of your chest, your left hand would now be your right hand and vice versa; so if you someone said raise your left hand, you would raise what you think of as your left hand, but they (not having travelled with you) would say you were rasing your right hand. You would be your mirror image. It is not certain what the shape of the universe is though. So for now we get to use our imaginations. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Well... That really depends on how you think the universe started and how its expanding ect... If you ask me I personaly think the universe started in a simpler way then the big bang. I call it the singel mass generator theory but im not gona go into what it is here :) What it would look like if you hit the end of the universe as I see it hurm... You would be hitting a very intense EM field that would prevent anything from inside the universe from going outside of it. You would be able to look back and see a wave of ever expanding energy/mater. If you tryed to go past this EM field I believe you would either get ripped apart and sent back to the center of the universe or actualy make it and possibly Pop the universe of course that would be physicaly impossible from my view of the universe.

If you go by the silly big bang theory then there is no "end" to the universe just an end to the stuff that fills it. So if you went to the end of the big bang universe you would be able to look back and see everything that happens as the same way you would in my model with one acception my model predicts that the universe is expanding at a doubling rate so you would see a much faster growing wave of light in my version then you would in the big bang theory.

Answer 3

It doesn't mean that. The usual analogy is to a 2 dimensional universe on a sphere. The sphere can be growing in 3 dimensions, but 2-dimensional beings in that universe would not be aware of any end of it because it doesn't have one.

There are a lot of different shapes that could be used instead of a sphere, for instance a torus (donut). Much research is going on now into the higher dimensional shape of our universe.

Answer 4

I agree with VANESSA. There is only one end to my universe...let me explain, and see if what I write rings true for you too......

I experience the universe through my senses, and you experience the universe through your senses. If I walk to the other end of the street, the location of my senses goes with me, so I get a different perspective on the universe, however, relative to my senses, I have not moved. My universe starts from wherever I am, and extends out in every direction whether I am at this end of the street or that end of the street. So, the start, or one end of my universe is ALWAYS within me. If I try to travel to the "other end" of the universe, the end of the universe that is within me, is still within me, and the universe still extends out in every direction from wherever I am. It is a little like chasing the end of a rainbow. The more you try, the more it is unreachable. So, regardless of whether you travel in a straight line, or in circles, or on a moebius (can't spell!) strip, one end of your universe ALWAYS stays with you. The human brain cannot conceive of a single ended thing, so we try to make it conform with what we are told.

We each experience the universe through our senses. I cannot experience the universe through your senses, and you can't experience it through my senses. So, we are actually living in parallel universes. The beginning of MY universe is different from the beginning of YOUR universe.

Anyway, this is simply what I believe through my own experience of MY universe, and how can I believe anything else?

There is much much more to my "theory", but here is not the place.

Answer 5

Well, really it would be like traveling to the end of a bubble. you wouldn't know if u reached the end. But I hear that there is a very nice restaurant out there. :)

Answer 6

The Klingons own the edge of the Universe. They have a prison there.

Answer 7

They say that the universe is 87,985,440,000,000,000,000,000 miles big. If you came to the end of it, there would be nothing there. No planets, no moons, no stars, nothing just total darkness and emptyness.
P.S. That's not a stupid question. I think of things like that myself.

Answer 8

There is curved space around our universe. OK our universe has end but there can be another universe ahead of us which may be invisible to us and vice versa. Scientists are thinking of that. And it is not good to imagine which is IMPOSSIBLE.

Answer 9

there is no end, its only the beginning!

Answer 10

youre long dead before you reach there....