if the universe is still expanding,what is it expanding into?

Question

the red shift effect is the very edge of the cosmos and still expanding it can't expand in2 nothing because surely nothing is something

Answer 1

There are at least three ways of thinking about what may lie outside of our universe.

If you consider the universe to be a typical kind of space which is getting bigger, then presumably there is stuff OUTSIDE the universe into which it gets bigger. The problem is that we can't even see all of our own universe (that's another subject), much less outside it, and even if there were an 'outside' then presumably none of our physical laws would apply there (most of the physical laws seem to be artifacts of the way the universe formed, and there are some physicists who study how they might have turned out differently). So what is the 'outside'?

Maybe it's nothing. Not even empty space. Of course, non-space is a difficult idea to wrap your mind around. There is no reason not to believe that there are not other universes out there either, so perhaps as ours expands theirs is forced to contract. That would be a bummer for them.

String theorists may have some other ideas. Some theories predict a number of extra dimensions which don't seem to be around where we are too much, and some scientists have proposed a solution to that problem: We're not in the 'real' universe. If this is true, then what we think of as our universe is really just a pocket of an even bigger universe. The bigger universe would have all the extra dimensions and other things we seem to be missing. And our little pocket would be expanding to take up more and more room of this universe. Of course this begs the question of what's outside of the 'real' universe... but that ends up just turning back to the above guesswork.

Then there's a completely different way of looking at the space in the universe. One could, if one wanted, correlate all the things in our universe with a mathematical model of constant volume. We know things seem to be moving away from us... but there's another way to describe the same thing: maybe they're not moving away, it's just that everything is shrinking. Logically enough, if EVERYTHING expands or contracts in an exactly relative way, there would be no way to tell. If, on the other hand, everything in the universe shrank while the space the universe was in was constant, it would look like things were moving away from each other.

So take your pick. Maybe we're crushing other helpless universes. Maybe we're taking over the real universe. Or maybe we're just getting smaller. Nobody knows for sure... yet.

Answer 2

The empty space waiting for it. People don't know everything, The chances of there being just our universe and nothing else are remote, it is much more likely that the vast reaches of space are populated by multiple products of multiple 'big bangs', making a multiverse. The empty vacuum of space is what any explosive event such as the 'big bang' will expand into. It can't be filled, there is no end, it is a vast unimaginable void. Expansion can be infinite. It is quite possible that after enough time has past, the particles from similar 'big bang type events could meet, collide pass, coalesce, etc.

Answer 3

In view of the fact we cant see an 'edge' to the universe, how can we say there is one. Our only observation from the red shift effect is that galaxies are traveling away from us, (except the Andromeda Galaxy which is on a collision course with the Milky Way). The cosmic microwave background radiation is constant throughout. The latest research is the geometry of the Universe is flat. As i understand it, the Big Bang was an explosion OF space not an explosion IN space....

Answer 4

No. Nothing is nothing. It can't be something. Otherwise it wouldn't be nothing. When you look at the universe as an object, you will feel that the sky is the limit of this universe. So what you are essentially asking is, what is beyond that sky?

Well emptiness & then another sky. This way, there are seven layers & after the final layer of sky, the all-powerful, all-knowing, almighty Lord of the Universe is present in full glory. If you can accept the concept of an omnipresent God, you shouldn't have any difficulty in imagining a limitless universe created by him.

Answer 5

I've heard it suggested that our universe is structured like a balloon. Stars, planets, interstellar dust and all matter lie within the surface of the balloon- there is nothing either inside or outside the balloon, and matter only exists within the material of the balloon. The balloon is getting bigger all the time, so all points on the balloon surface are moving away from each other, giving rise to the red shift.
I suppose it's a bit mind-boggling to think that if you threw a stone hard enough (and could wait long enough), it could return to hit you on theback of the head!!
Better take care, then. People who live in glasshouses should not throw stones......

Answer 6

once I've read that a universe is like a bubble composed of accelerating particles caused by big bang, that there are other universe aside from our universe, so if that's the case then there are many big bangs and i suppose that this limit of the universe in theory was just the edge of still expanding blast. and from that we can imagine, this space, the universe is expanding into, is a very still space and have a materials that can brew any time of another big bang.......... :)

Answer 7

Nothing is not necessarily something...there can be a void in space. The universe may continue to expand, but I'm betting eventually due to the amount of matter in the universe that eventually it will collapse on itself and start all over.

Answer 8

we can say that the Universe is increasing by employing employing Hubble's regulation which tells us that a galaxy's velocity of recession (the fee at which it fairly is shifting far flung from us) is proportional to its distance from us, i.e. a galaxy extra away strikes far flung from us swifter than one on the factor human beings. The pull of gravity isn't as super on those extra away so as that they pass quicker. it is perplexing to comprehend for the reason that that ought to recommend we are interior the centre if each and every thing is shifting far flung from us - so attempt to think of the galaxies as dots on a balloon. As you inflate the balloon, each and all the dots get extra far flung from one yet another and while you're sitting on one dot, it would not look as while you're shifting yet fairly that each and every thing else is. There are 3 fashions for the increasing universe: the 1st is the place the mass contained interior the Universe isn't super sufficient to conquer the fee of enlargement. The Universe will boost consistently. the 2d is the place the fee of enlargement isn't sufficient to conquer the mass and gravity pulls each and every thing back to the place all of it started. The serious kind is the place the Universe incorporates sufficient mass to stay away from non-end enlargement, yet no longer plenty that it will fall down - that's going to stay in one place, no longer increasing or contracting. I remember analyzing that the preliminary burst of sunshine from the huge Bang prolonged out in a halo of sunshine and if shall we get to the cutting-edge 'factor' of the Universe, we would see that mild, yet would not be waiting to be certain something previous it, for the reason that mild hasn't reached there yet! i like that concept XD

Answer 9

Where does the air in the balloon expand to? It stretches the fabric of the balloon. This is what the universe is expanding into. It is stretching the fabric of the space-time continum. Remember gases are just a matter of scale.

Answer 10

This question is asked about a dozen times a day. If you go to any search engine and type in that exact question, such as:

what is the universe expanding into?

You will get thousands of hits from scientific sites

here's a start for you
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=what+is+the+universe+expanding+into%3F&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8