If the universe is expanding how can it be infinate?

Question

I mean it will be infinate touse as we cannot measure it and we could never reach an edge if it is expading at the speed of light. but to and observer from outside the universe (in whatever the universe is expanding into) wouldn't the unverse be a finate size?

sorry "touse" should be "to us" rushed typing it

there may be plenty of scientific contradictions, and im not having ago but there are way more in the belief of god though most are moral contradictions such as don not murder but kill that entire race... again im not having ago

proof of the universe expanding is red shift, correct me if im wrong

Answer 1

Space is infinite. "The universe" is finite and is the bit of space with stuff in. The stuff is spreading out into empty space - hence the universe (not space) is expanding.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hehe, i answered one like this earlier today!

Essentially, we have the big bang... a common misconception is that this was the beginning, but I do not believe so and here is why:
The big bang occured after all matter in the universe compressed to a near infinitely dense point of mass. The resulting explosion propelled all of the matter in existence outward and the proof of this is seen in red shift vs. blue shift light. Lights speed is constant, so it will not change speed depending if the object emitting it is coming at you or going away from you (or at least from youre point of view or reference frame) and so the way to tell if an object is moving (using light) toward or away is by spectrum. When we take a look at other matter in space (planets, stars, galaxies) we see a predominant trend of outward expansion, however, it is a scientific fact that gravity increases in proportion to mass and that anything with mass is drawn to anything with mass, by this understanding it is probable that gravity will pull masses together... toward a central point, effectively slowing down matter expansion until the point of reversion so eventually all mass will redraw itself back together (given a long enough time). When this happens, another singularity will form and continually compress matter to a near infite density... therefore another big bang will occur. Essentially, I believe, the universe had no beginning or end, just a continuing cycle which is proven by the theory of gravity itself... well, as much as a theory can prove anyway ;)

PS Space and the universe are two different things... Space is empty, essentially it is NOTHING and the universe is the matter that occupies space so while the universe has a boundary, space does not (or may not, anyway)

Answer 3

To the guy above me: That's not how science works at all. Also scientists admit they are wrong all the time. Scientists will try and prove each others theories wrong until it's either: A) Proven wrong or B) Beyond a reasonable doubt (meaning within the vast means we have to test things) is shown to be correct. Religion never does and does exactly what you said scientists do. (Don't confuse your tactics for those of people who ACTUALLY want to know the truth.)

The universe is similar to a sphere, it is limitless, boundaryless yet finite. It has no limit so no matter where you travel you will never reach the end. (Hyperbolic space time.) It is boudaryless because there is nothing defining sections of the universe, and it is finite because it has a measurable volume. (Picture these concepts on a tennis ball and it will make more sense.) Yours truly,

Mervin DePervin

P.S as for what's outside of the Universe, void. There are two states, existing and not existing. Outside of the universe is void which is the lack of anything. Therefore nothing exists there, therefore it doesn't exist. What if we go there? Well we have just expanded the Universe. Confusing huh? ;)

Answer 4

This is a topic that when you really think about it boggles the mind.
As stated by a few others its the matter in the Universe that is expanding.

There are so many ideas that one could come up with.
What if our Known Universe is like a continent and the empty space we have no found yet is like the Atlantic Ocean and if you keep going you reach another Universe that is also expanding.
In that cause both would be the same universe and we might call each a Sub-Universe or something.

Answer 5

Personally, I believe the universe would look like a globe like everything else inside of it. The reason we haven't found an edge is because we haven't seen a way to breech the barrier. What I mean by this, planes fly over the Earth but a Cesna or Boeing jet doesn't fly into space because of gravity. But a rocket is able to punch through and out of the atmosphere.

The question is, what would be used to punch through the universe's gravity and into "other space"?

Answer 6

Well some people (like me) think that the universe is a universal Turing machine that consults an oracle machine to find solutions that it can't compute itself. In other words there is an interface between the universe and a Platonic world of mathematical forms through which non computable physics (like the thinking our minds perform) can occur.

So this relates to your question....the frontiers of our universe are expanding as more and more truths are revealled by the Oracle machine. Think of this as the evolution of our universe. You think the universe is expanding into nothing but I'm saying that although there is physically nothing at the boundaries of our universe at any particular moment, there is a mathematical world surrounding our universe that can make our universe bigger. Physical things have computable solutions. When the oracle is consulted it provides a solution that we can then retrospectively compute. The oracle machine therby creates new physical reality for us. We percieve this as an expanding physical universe.

OKAY. This might be bs!

Answer 7

The universe may be infinite or it may be not the quote "The universe is expanding" or "The universe is constantly expanding" refers to us as humans constantly discovering more of the universe around us. We define infinate as having no end or bounds and as of yet we have not found the end or bounds of the universe so by our definition the universe is infinite until the end or edge or whatever is discovered.

I hope this helps.

Answer 8

As a fully qualified and highly experienced astologer I can help solve your dilemma concerning infinite space theorem.

Basically the universe is expanding in both real and imaginary time horizons which is a proven fact determined by gallaxies within the universe moving further apart from one another.

This expansion will continue in time and distance until galaxies hit the brick wall that god has built at the far edges of space.

What lies beyond this wall is anyones guess but my money is on a parallel universe where all women look like Jordan and all men sing like Peter Andre.

Answer 9

It is finite since it is expanding but we just cannot go to the end because we don't have anything that travels at the speed of light. Some theories in my cousin's space book saids that there are many universes and dimensions.

Answer 10

I'll make it really simple for you.

The universe isn't infinite, because it is expanding.

You pretty much answered your own question but didn't realize it. The visible universe is absolutely finite, therefore it can expand.

Something infinite in size cannot expand. You can't have more than infinity.

Answer 11

The other side of the preverbial coin is the fact that scienists think the 'expansion' is slowing down. If this is the case, when do we reach the point where it starts to collapse into itself and then, do we get another 'big bang' and the whole process starts again.

Ooer! I've just given myself a headache