The universe?

Question

If the universe is always expanding, what is it pushing out for it to expand?

Answer 1

because it very hard to expain something that we can't compare to everyday things such as what is the universe, how did it started, why is it expanding and what is it expanding into if anything? i decided to start researching, buying books surfing the net etc etc. so i'm no expert on the subject and still in the process of teaching myself i will give you my understanding of an answer for your question. i also added more details to answer the follow up the questions that usually fo follows your question.

one theory states that before the big bang there wasn't anything not even nothingness and then pop the big bang and everything appears: matter space and time. and it's actually space itself that's started to expanded there is no outside because there is no space. i suppose you could say space itself is stretching to make more space as it expands. one day in the distant future two things could happen :
1/ the expansion will loses it momentum and start to recoil from over stretching (gravitational forces) this idea is known as the big crunch.
2/ it will keep on expanding and rip apart everything (atoms, blackholes) and spread them apart on ever increasing unimaginable distance ie. atoms will be pull apart by the expansion and will break down into smaller parts and then those parts in turn will break down into even smaller parts etc etc and each part will be spread across ever increasing unimaginable distances until the universe simply peeters out and vanish. this idea is known as the big rip.

either one of these views fits in with the western christian/judean science there is a beginning and a end.

the second theory states that the universe is infinity; no beginning and no end. this the eastern buddist/hindu view. therefore if the universe is infinite there is no outside of the universe.

the next theory ( a part of the Quantum theory) tries to joins the two previous theories together its states ' yes this universe has a start and a beginning but it's only a very small part of the multiverse which could contain an infinite number of different or parallel universes. so outside our universe there could be other universes. each universe is protected by a membrane to prevent us from expanding into one another. this makes each universe unique, the first theory is correct in saying space is stretching to make more space for expansion and like a bubble our membrane expands with it. but the second theory is correct aswell in so far that our universe is part of something else the multiverse and there are even theories where that came from, leading you to believe in a infinite possibilities.

(i decided to add in the emergences ot the multiverse theory aswell just to confuse myself. it goes like this: there was nothingness (unlike the first theory there wasn't even that) but even nothingness started to aged and in turn started to decay, as it rot it started to boil as it boil it produce billions and billions of expanding bubbles similar to when you boil water. here's the pitch, each expanding bubble is a universe)

summary: the universe does not need anything else to expand but it's own space.

important! these are only theories not concrete facts and could/will change as new evidences is available. however the top three theories seem to be in the forefront at the moment.

Answer 2

The expansion of the Universe is an inflationary process. The very dimesions of space are expanding as time moves along as a result of the processes which brought the universe into being.

One analogy might be to consider our universe as the surface of a balloon. If you draw a series of dots on the surface of the balloon then blow the balloon up, then the dots spread apart. The same process is happening in our Universe, only in a volume rather than a surface.

As to what's outside the Universe, M theory has it that our 4 D Universe is embedded in on an 11 D membrane or 'Brane' which is sloshing around in a 12 D 'Bulk' with lots of other 'branes'. These may or may not be colliding on a regular basis. Every collision could result in a new universe. So there could be trillions and trillions of universes.

The old view was that there was nothing out there beyong our Universe. Now, thanks to M theory we think that we're expanding on a Brane moving in the Bulk. If this is the case, the next logical question is what's beyond the Bulk?

Answer 3

the great bang around 15 billion years in the past. The universe remains increasing simply by fact of it. The furthest issues away are moving away at nearlly the value of sunshine simply by fact they have been accelerating the longest. modern-day astro-physics thinks that the great bang exchange right into a million of many in a universe for ever and ever or commencing up. If there is sufficient remember interior the universe to halt the upward thrust and opposite it via mutual gravitational attraction the universe would desire to finally fall down right into a singularity and convey a huge bang throughout returned. This state of affairs could provide us a universe without commencing up or end even even though it could oscillate between the great bang to the great crunch to the great bang, advert infinitum, cycling as quickly as each 22 billion years or so. this extra understand that they are finding for is primary as darkish remember and there is mounting information that it does exist in sufficiently huge parts to reason this oscillating universe. How huge is it? The furthest products that we are able to work out are around 12 - 15 billion gentle years away. it is, on the value of sunshine (7 circumstances international extensive in a million 2d) it could take 12 - 15 billion years to get there. the sunshine we are seeing from those distant products has taken 12 - 15 billion years to realize our eyes it is thrice longer than the Earth, solar or photograph voltaic equipment has existed. So the universe is larger than huge, that's better than the human strategies can rather understand. wish this sparks your interest some greater

Answer 4

Apparently there is a new theory that there are universes outside of ours and they are called parallel universes. The new theory is that the Big Bang was two universes/dimensions that expanded into each other and exploded - I just watched it on Discovery. That'll keep you up at night!

Answer 5

At this point in time, science doesn't know exactly what the force is causing the universe to expand. Based on an awful lot of careful research we know that some 'thing' is causing the expansion, but exactly what 'it' is we simply don't know. Right now science just refers to this mysterious force as 'dark energy.'

Answer 6

It's not pushing anything -- space itself is expanding. And it's not expanding *into* anything, either...there is the space-time that makes up our universe, and there is nothing outside of it. Not nothing as in "empty space" -- NOTHING. No space, no time.

Cool, huh? :)

Answer 7

Analogy does not really work, but I will try.

Let's take the earth, and say that is all their is. You travel north until you reach the north pole. Now, what is north of you? Nothing. That is what the universe is expanding into, the north of the the north pole. It is not part of the universe (earth) and, as such, can not be explained or described.

It is what is north of the north pole if earth was all there was in existence. . .

Answer 8

It is believed that a explosution occured causing all matter and energy to collide and resulted in a BIG BANG. The central point of this explosion is still hypothetical.

Anyway, all the resulting "debris" from the eplosion blew away from that central point and started to mave away from it - this is the expanding you are referring to.

Answer 9

Outside the universe there is absolutely nothing so it is expanding into nothing.

Answer 10

try not to think about it too long, it will hurt your brain.

the universe is made up of space, but there is nothing in space, so how is nothing expanding into something that isnt there because outside the universe there cant be anything.....

i prefer to think we are in a marble, like in Men in black