What is the boudary of the universe?

Question

As we think of the vast universe, the ultimate question that comes to mind is - Is there a limit to the universe (i.e., does the three dimensional space as we see it, have and end in the universe? If so, what is there beyond that or ? If not, what is the meaning of endless space? If there are no clear answers, would that mean that the concept of space is a "human illusion"?

Answer 1

The answers to this come in many flavors. One is the idea that when you get to one edge you come out on the opposite edge, like one of those early computer games where things would scroll off the screen on the left only to reappear on the right.

As you get more technical in explanations, you would have to understand a bit about geometry and ideas such as the curvature of space, a-la Einstein.

However, a simpler, yet elusive explanation is this: Our universe is all there is. That's why it is called a universe. It started out as an infintessimal speck of matter and contained all that there is now. The SPACE between the matter expanded and continues to expand still. This expansion of space is something that has been measured to much accuracy, and it is what lets us estimate the distance to galaxies billions of light years away.

When you introduce time into this mix, you have what is called "spacetime." This is no mere play of words, space and time are very much interconnected. You can't have one without the other. And here is where the leap of imagination occurs: Everything in our universe is contained in spacetime. If you are out of spacetime, you have left the boundary of the universe, where time does not exist. By the same token, time did not exist BEFORE our universe came into existence.

In conclusion, then, it is interesting and will further your understanding of your question, to study time. Time is not some clock ticking out seconds equally in one corner of the universe and another. Time is absolutely relative. The passage of time near a massive object is quite different from the passage of time in remote space. Study time, by studying general and special relativity, and then ponder your question again.

Answer 2

Certain results of the scientists tells that there are many verses like our verse i.e universe. If this is true then the other verse might be the end of our universe. But I am not sure how far this multiverse concept is true. Or I can give you an alternate answer that sometimes it make me feel these are just an illusion . There is no such thing as real matter. Just like the matrix . May be everything we see is an illusion. coz can you believe that at the time of big bang the so-called singularity point was 10^20 times smaller than a proton with 1000billion degree celsious and inflated to what we see out side today. May be if we know where the so_called singularity point was at that time ? what was around it ? we can have the answer for the end of the universe. My awnser is that this universe if it has been formed according to the pusating theory then this must have been formed when the privious univrerse underwent the event called the big crunch.The universe (ours) then formed with new matter including the space and time ,were from the singularity point . And space is also an entity formed so virtually there is no such thing as 'outside' or a boundry. It is a dimensional error .Or we would need more complicated dimensional work . cannot be explained in 3d model. Another answer is that the state of the big bang is itself the end of the universe. the universe is expanding from the center and the limit of our view is half a million years after the big bang because only after half a million years after the big bang this universe turned transparent .Before this happened the universe must have been in plasma state.(the state inside the stars). As the universe is expanading in the center this plasma state must be the end of the universe which is invisible because the universe turned transparent.

Answer 3

Space is not a point expanding and creating ever more space. It's infinite to begin with, and the space in-between things is expanding. It may be finite in a 4-dimensional way, but 3D wise, it is infinite. The metaphor of the balloon works for a 2D universe (the surface of the balloon).
I mean, in a 3D universe the "surface" is infinite space, the expansion is the space in between objects(galaxies).
We live in a bubble 13 billion light-years wide. We can't see further cause since the beginning of expansion light has not yet reached us from beyond that point. Simple reason our universe is 13 billion yrs old! Light has not yet had time to reach us!

Answer 4

well, we know that there is no space beyond the universe ( atleast as we see it). Whatever the space is there is the space that the expanding universe creates for itself. Still, you can imagine a boundary (!) made up of the outermost of the galaxies of the universe.. Those which were the first to emerge out of the Big Bang (If it really happened, that is..)

Answer 5

As of today, no one knows what lies beyond the universe, whether there may be more universes etc. The space and time are properties of the universe, so asking what lies beyond may not be useful.

Answer 6

Depending on the average density of matter and energy in the universe, it will either keep on expanding forever or it will be gravitationally slowed down and will eventually collapse back on itself in a "Big Crunch". Currently the evidence suggests not only that there is insufficient mass/energy to cause a recollapse, but that the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating and will accelerate for eternity.

The theoretical scientific exploration of the ultimate fate of the universe became possible with Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity. General relativity can be employed to describe the universe on the largest possible scale. There are many possible solutions to the equations of general relativity, and each solution implies a possible ultimate fate of the universe. Alexander Friedmann proposed one such solution in 1921. This solution implies that the universe has been expanding from an initial singularity; this is, essentially, the Big Bang.

An important parameter in fate of the universe theory is the density parameter, Omega (Ω), defined as the average matter density of the universe divided by a critical value of that density. This creates three possible ultimate fates of the universe, depending on whether Ω is equal to, less than, or greater than 1. These are called, respectively, the Flat, Open and Closed universes. These three adjectives refer to the overall geometry of the universe, and not to the local curving of spacetime caused by smaller clumps of mass (for example, galaxies and stars).

Observational evidence was not long in coming. In 1929, Edwin Hubble published his conclusion, based on his observations of Cepheid variable stars in distant galaxies, that the universe was expanding. From then on, the beginning of the universe and its possible end have been the subjects of serious scientific investigation. In 1933, Georges-Henri Lemaître set out a theory that has since come to be called the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. In 1948, Fred Hoyle set out his opposing theory of a static universe, called the Steady state theory. These two theories were active contenders until the 1965 discovery, by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a fact that is a straightforward prediction of the Big Bang theory, and one that the Steady State theory cannot account for. The Big Bang theory immediately became the most widely held view of the origin of the universe.

When Einstein formulated general relativity, he and his contemporaries believed in a static universe. When Einstein found that his equations could easily be solved in such a way as to allow the universe to be expanding now, and to contract in the far future, he added to those equations what he called a cosmological constant whose role was to offset the effect of gravity on the universe as a whole in such a way that the universe would remain static. After Hubble announced his conclusion that the universe was expanding, Einstein wrote that his cosmological constant was his "greatest blunder".

Starting in 1998, observations of supernovae in distant galaxies have been interpreted as consistent with a universe whose rate of expansion is accelerating. Subsequent cosmological theorizing has been designed so as to allow for this possible acceleration, nearly always by invoking dark energy and dark matter. Hence recent theorizing about the ultimate fate of the universe allows for a nonzero cosmological constant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe

just check out the link..........all the best.

Answer 7

Everyone says the universe is expanding, but what is it expanding into?
Anyway, everything's got bounderies, I believe: apparently the universe is "endless" because it curves and folds back unto itself, creating other dimensions.
But the universe will one day stop expanding, and will begin to go the other way, getting smaller again. When it gets smaller again, then obviously there is boundery because how can it get smaller?
I'm not a scientist, but these are my thoughts.

Answer 8

well it you expect to find a sing of "eat at joe's" you wont.
i think that there are unlimited universes in an unlimited space
i think that spacedosn't expands it just is... the universe are all matter created in the big bang but i think that lots of universes are expanding and getting away from each other faster as hell. think on the space and the universe as two separate things.

Answer 9

The universe is of finite size but has no boundaries. To visualize this, consider an insect wandering the surface of a balloon. The creature can explore the entire surface but never reaches an edge. Now suppose the balloon to be expanding, and you have sort of a model of what the universe is.

Answer 10

Just with big-bang, our universe is expanding. Our universe has no beginning and no end. It is Endless and has no definite boundary. universe goes to infinity.....