If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding against? If you say nothing, than what is nothing?

Answer 1

this is actually a common misconception about the universe. the universe is finite yet it has no edge and no center. it seems to be something like the two-dimensional surface of a sphere, but it is four-dimensional. nothing inside or outside the sphere exists for the surface, and it is this surface, aka universe, that is expanding. nothing exists "outside" the universe not even space-time. to quote a dead writer (1874-1946) "there's no there, there". space-time originated in the big bang. the big bang was the entire universe, and everywhere in the universe was once the big bang. i have something else for you to think about. the universe is about 13.7 billion years old, but the cosmic microwave background seems to be at least 47 billion light-years away.

read these:
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_cosmology

Answer 2

I am not here to claim pionts so don't say about getting nothing.

Since all the particals are not in a neutral state in that an electron being negative is behaving differently to a proton which seems to elict more force, it would suggest that such particals are divisable.

In this clutter of particals we have here, it would suggest that there is something leading to it from somewhere else; what I call the partical clouds.
These clouds collapse due to forces such as gravity of magnetism like forces and forces together, resulting a big bang. This is the known universe.

So this would mean that there are other so called universes outside the walls of this one, but you cannot detect them for they are made of particals that ours are not making it invisible to our exquiptment.
But since it may interact with ours, we could measure it.

As you may not know, it happens that I do not believe in the Big Bang theory in that they claim there was no space or time before it.
Physists have no grounds to make such a cliam and no logic either.

Answer 3

This is an endless question which keeps being asked over and over again.

At this time space can be defined as being an observable sphere with a radius of 40 Billion Light Years. That is, we can see objects out to a distance of 40 Billion Light years in all directions. All things are in relative motion within that sphere of seeing or observation. Our best equipment simply craps out beyond that and we cannot gain any useful information beyond that distance from the equipment we posess.

Now, who knows what else is out there? Nobody.

So why spend every waking moment speculating about it?
What ever is out there is 40 Billion Light Years away from us, so what possible difference does it make. A distance that vast must certainly = humongous, same as infinity. For sure, you or I will never travel there.

Answer 4

The universe is not something solid expanding into a big empty space. The space itself is expanding. Once you understand the idea of a finite but unbounded space, it's not that complicated.

Answer 5

since i was a little boy after going to sunday school and before going to sleep i would always wonder if god made earth an all the stars in space, how could he make the space. did he make the space and how big is he space? that is like your observation about nothing. we know the hawkins big bang theory etc. so we can offer a source of all the rocks and ice and fire, but where in hell did the space come from and how far does it go? nothing is space i guess. how far does nothing go and what is nothing? and who made nothing? i never heard anyone but you address my old bothersome question. not the pope or anybody. i have had people stare at me when i asked. so you guess, who made nothing? if not that, how vast is nothing? guess just before the moment i die, i hope, i will have an epiphyoney and know, don't you hope? just about the biggest question that is never addressed in all the books, including sci fi, all the great philosophers etc. unthinkable? dang it!

Answer 6

Yes, the universe is expanding. Ever since the Big Bang (see Big Bang Theory) all of the matter withitn the universe has been going farther and farther out.

Answer 7

Nothing is the absence of anything soo it is a conceptual idea like 0 or infinity heck even love if you want to be technical. Or its just what almost everything is from the vast spase between protons and electrons, as well as stars. Or the amount in my bank acount...Plus in this case it is like life and death. you wern't alive wern't alive, are alife *and hate to tell ya* will be dead and shall be till the end of time - at least your corporal form as it curnently is - depending on who ya listen to.

Answer 8

1) the universe is expanding, against "nothing"
2 nothing is simply anything that doesn't change whether you cut it, fold it, heat it, look at it from a different view, or go forwards in time (supersymmetry...google it)

And expansion is measured by measuring the redshift of galaxies (again, google it)

Answer 9

It is not expanding "against" anything. You must realize that the expansion of the universe is the expansion of spacetime itself. There is no "outside" into which it is expanding.

Answer 10

the universe is expanding and not "against" anything.