the universe?

Question

i find all this stuff mind-blowing and hard to comprehend. but is all that is in this world/life a universe is there anything else outside it? like is there nothing outside it? like is this all it is..galaxies,planets,sun,moon? i find it hard to explain wat im trying to say.

like wat was there before the universe was created like was there absolutely nothing in existance the more i talk about it the more im fascinated!!

Answer 1

Whats north of the north pole?

Answer 2

What a wonderful question. If you ever find an answer better than that which the scientists trot out, you may have found the meaning of life. Don't quote me on that, I may be wrong. I frequently am.

For what it's worth, I shall summarise the answer to your questions.

There may well be..to all of them.

Stuff beyond the edge? We think, probably so
Before the Big Bang? Could well be a time before it, yes

However...

Oh this is a good one. You can blame Einstein for this.

Since the universe has an absolute speed limit of the speed of light [it's the law, don't blame me] our observable universe is limited. Imagine the universe began [as scintists believe] about 15 billion years ago. That means the furthest we can see is 15 billion light years away.

Now that sounds OK because as more time goes by you'd be able to see further. Except that the universe and everything in it expands to fill the extra distance by 'creating new space'. I know It's mental but that's how it is. It's just what happens when you have a big bang that blows everything outward. You have to make the space to blow it into.

So you think that if you can live until the universe is 20billion years old, you'd be able to see 20bn LY away? Yes you can, but the stuff at the edge now has moved out that far in the time you've been waiting. You've been sitting around for 5bn years and cans still only see the stuff you saw ages ago [only now its further away and harder to see. This, as an unrelated point, proves that in the past things were better and as time goes by things generally get worse]

Now you're thinking, I can't live for 5billion years and even if I could, all that'd be different is the universe would be bigger and all the galaxies would be more spread out.

Yes that's true.

But what's beyond it? you ask me again

Well that's the point. There may well be stuff beyond it. It's just that with the speed of light being the spoiler of all things we can never, ever find it, see it, know of it. The same it true for before the big bang. Beyond our universe is all meaningless.

I said, 'if you could live for 5 billion years'. Meaningless. Of course you can't [well you could die trying]. WYSIWYG. what you see is what you get.

Do not confuse possible universes beyond our own with 'parallel universes'. They're not the same. Parallel universes co-exist with ours. Some theories put great importance on them. However, parallel universes live with ours, not beyond it.

As for your comment...is this all there is?
Is 1.4x10^32 cubic light years not enough for you?
Have you tried religion?

Answer 3

You are absolutely right. It is completely mind-blowing, but, as far as current theories go, the universe is a certain size (and growing bigger), and nothing exists outside the boundaries of the universe. Also there was no time before time began. Many have thought these thoughts before you, and had different theories about it. It takes most people several years to 'accept' that there is nothing outside the universe. If you are very interested, suggest you study/read some books on the subject, but the most important thing is to have an open mind and a good imagination.

Answer 4

To explain it all would take a book, a very large book. The universe is expanding but it is not expanding into anything. There is nothing outside the universe, although some have theorized that there are other universes. Imagine a balloon being blown up, the surface expands and the galaxies are on the outside surface. They move apart and expand. The analogy breaks down because the balloon expands into the air, the universe just expands. You have to realize that outside the universe the dimensions we orient ourselves by, time and space have no meaning. They are a function of our universe.They came into existence when the universe did and will end when the universe does.

Answer 5

Marvellous! Well done, you show all the signs of an enthusiastic searcher of knowledge and insight. The nature of the Universe has appealed to many thinkers since man evolved from the apes.

The beauty about Science is that it too evolves; as scientists reveal more about the world, so more questions are raised. Science has an amazing way of stimulating greater interest!

One of the main reasons is that Science does not attribute something that is mysterious to some greater unknowable influence. Instead it nibbles at the unknown until new ideas form. In turn, scientific ideas have to change as insight increases. Some world-views simply hide these mysteries behind a shroud of impenetrable darkness, saying they are signs of a greater entity or mystery. (Now I too am becoming lost for words!)

Enjoy your awe and fascination; let it grow into an urge to know more and more, but be demanding about the answers you get and their sources.

The world revealed by Science is often contrary to common sense; this alone will inspire your searches. Dig deep!
Regards
MM

Answer 6

The universe is expanding because it is making more of its own space. It's the increasing space that make the galaxies move away from each other.

So what is the space moving into? The current theories involve string theory which says that there are more dimensions than the four we can perceive (the three spatial dimensions plus time) so space may be expanding into a different dimension. A part of string theory says that there are membranes called "branes" which move in a fifth dimension and when they collide they form another universe of four dimensions. To see this illustrated, click on the following: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/bigbang_alternative_010413-1.html

Answer 7

The impossible question. For something to exist it must have time and space to exist in. However, time and space are not universal constants but characteristics of this universe. Space is altered by gravity and time is a variable as hypothesised by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. So, if you imagine that the universe started to contract instead of expanding until it was the size of apple then where and when would that apple be. The answer s nowhere and nowhen as there would be no space or time for it to exist in.

Answer 8

When God created the universe, I think He meant for it to be mind boggling for us. We can not comprehend all that is out there nor can we answer all the questions about our universe let alone what is outside the universe as we know it. The universe is so immense that it defies explanation - outside the universe - hummm, that's a very good question, but we have no way of knowing even though some egg-headed scientists try in their feeble way to conceive an answer. The only thing I care about outside of the universe is God, and I turn all of those questions (by faith) over to Him since I can't comprehend them anyway. Of course, I am curious as well, but we will have to wait for eternity to see all of His wonders.

Answer 9

Hey, calm down!

Breath deeply......congratulations, you've just scratched the tip of the iceberg.

Just wait until you try and get to grips with more than 3 dimensions, relativity, and then all the stuff about parallel universes.

Of course you will then have to get to grips with all the really, really small stuff, and thats equally as mind blowing unless you have an IQ above 170

Trust me, its so much easier to just kick back, watch the game, and sip a beer with your mates.

Anyway, we're all dead in the long run.

Answer 10

The universe is not there. According to Hindu philosophy it is all "maya" you believe what you see. the observable universe is nothing but a thought process. The attributes are given by u only. Yes the universe is expanding and will never come to a halt. It will disintegrate into particles.

Answer 11

Hello its taking a while but ive found this answer for you. I know what your trying to say and it amazes me too.

The theory of panspermia proposes that life really gets around, jumping fron planet to planet - or even from star to star. Life might be everywhere! Assuming this is true, how do single-celled bacteria make the journey through the vacuum of space? Easy, they use chunks of rock as space ships, in a process called lithopanspermia. And now, researchers from Princeton and the University of Michigan think that life carrying rocks might have been right there at the beginning of our solar system, keeping their tiny astronauts safe and sound, frozen in statis until the planets formed and the right conditions let them thaw out, stretch their proteins, and begin a process leading from microbe to mankind. The theory that simple forms of life travel in ejecta from other worlds - embedded in rock blasted from planetary surfaces by the impact of large objects - is the basis for "lithopanspermia". There are numerous advantages to this hypothesis - simple, hardy forms of life are often found in mineral deposits on Earth in forbidding locales. Worlds - such as our own or Mars - are occasionally blasted by asteroids and comets large enough to hurl rock at speeds exceeding escape velocities. Mineral in rocks can shield microbes from shock and radiation (associated with impact craters) as well as hard radiation from the Sun as stony meteors move through space. The hardiest forms of life also have the ability to survive in a cold vacuum by going into stasis - reducing chemical interactions to zero while maintaining biological structure well enough to later thaw and multiply in more salubrious environs.

That's a Panspermia scenario, where this stuff is getting splashed off during the early formation of the solar system and spread all around. Maybe we're from somewhere else originally, maybe from Mars or some planet that doesn't even exist any more because of early collisions. Who knows? That's fascinating too.

It is a thought too that maybe we (Earth) isn't the only planet in our solar system to having human beings. Maybe this is true and maybe not. There is still many trillions of miles out there in space that hasnt been discovered. WHO knows what else is out there? Maybe one day in someones life time these questions will be answered and then again maybe not?