A universe question?

Question

If the universe is expanding at a very fast rate what would happen if you managed to overtake the rate of expanding where would u be ? There must be something outside the universe because its expanding. Expanding into what? Oh an if you got out of the universe buy over taking the speed of expansion what might happen to you eg theres no time


answers or ideas plz



W8 1 more if the the universe does expand for ever like some scientist believe then does that mean that there is a infinite chance of other inteligent life (ALIENS!!!!!) being born in the galaxy.

Answer 1

Let me begin by saying that "expanding" isn't really the best word to describe what is happening to the universe, although that is the word that is often used - a word choice which I think leads to a lot of unnecessary confusion regarding what is already a difficult topic! A more accurate word for what the universe is doing might be "stretching".

The difference between "expanding" and "stretching", for me at least, is that an "expanding universe" conjures up an image where there is a bunch of galaxies floating through space, all of which started at some center point and are now moving away from that point at very fast speeds. Therefore, the collection of galaxies (which we call the "universe") is expanding, and it is certainly fair to ask what it is expanding into.

The current theories of the universe, however, tell us that this is not the picture we should have in mind at all. Instead, the galaxies are in some sense stationary - they do not move through space the way that a ball moves through the air. The galaxies simply sit there. However, as time goes on, the space between the galaxies "stretches", sort of like what happens when you take a sheet of rubber and pull at it on both ends. Although the galaxies haven't moved through space at all, they get farther away from each other as time goes on because the space in between them has been stretched.

If the universe is indeed infinite, then the simple answer to the original question is that the universe doesn't have anything to expand into. Thinking about infinity is always complicated, but a good analogy can be made with simple math. Imagine you have a list of numbers: 1,2,3,etc., all the way up to infinity. Then you multiply every number in this list by 2, so that you now have 2,4,6,etc., all the way up to infinity. The distance between adjacent number in your list has "stretched" (it is now 2 instead of 1), but can you really say that the total extent of all your numbers has "expanded"? You started off with numbers that went up to infinity, and you finished with numbers that went up to infinity. So the total size is the same! If these numbers represent the distances between galaxies in an infinite universe, then it is a good analogy for why the universe does not necessarily expand even though it stretches.

Finally, I should point out that not everything in the universe is "stretching" or "expanding" in the way that the spaces between faraway galaxies stretch. For example, you and I aren't expanding, the Earth isn't expanding, the sun isn't expanding, even the entire Milky Way galaxy isn't expanding. That's because on these relatively small scales, the effect of the universe's stretching is completely overwhelmed by other forces (i.e. the galaxy's gravity, the sun's gravity, the Earth's gravity, and the atomic forces which hold people's bodies together). It is only when we look across far enough distances in the universe that the effect of the universe's stretching becomes noticeable above the effects of local gravity and other forces which tend to hold things together.


More about it and the related questions in ,
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=274

Answer 2

The big bang around 15 billion years ago. The universe is still expanding because of it. The furthest things away are moving away at nearlly the speed of light because they have been accelerating the longest. Current astro-physics thinks that the big bang was 1 of many in a universe without end or beginning. If there is enough matter in the universe to halt the expansion and reverse it through mutual gravitational attraction the universe could finally collapse into a singularity and produce a big bang all over again. This scenario would give us a universe without beginning or end but it would oscillate between the big bang to the big crunch to the big bang, ad infinitum, cycling once every 22 billion years or so. This extra matter that they are looking for is known as dark matter and there is mounting evidence that it does exist in large enough quantities to cause this oscillating universe. How big is it? The furthest objects that we can see are around 12 - 15 billion light years away. That is, at the speed of light (7 times around the World in 1 second) it would take 12 - 15 billion years to get there. The light we are seeing from these distant objects has taken 12 - 15 billion years to reach our eyes which is 3 times longer than the Earth, Sun or solar system has existed. So the universe is bigger than big, it's bigger than the human brain can really comprehend. Hope this sparks your interest some more

Answer 3

The farthest galaxies we can see do not exist any longer.
They went out of existence,maybe billions of years ago.
Space is a finite entity and it's maximum size has been exceeded and it is in the process of going out of existence.
Beyond the limits of the universe there is nothing so it can expand or recede without restriction.
A galaxy is an end stage in the evolution of a universe and the milky way is no exception.
The method of it's demise resides in the galactic center.
The activity there results in the apparent red shift which is interpreted as a galactic recession.
Aliens;beings like us.
They proliferate throughout the universe.
They probably parallel us in intelligence and technology.
There is no proof that they exist but they must.
They probably theorize about us the same and hope one day they will get proof that we exist.

Answer 4

Why does there have to be a boundary that we move beyond?
Why can't there just be nothing, and so as much room as we need to expand?

If there is an infinite chance of alien life, then there must be an infinite number of alien species out there, so they must be visiting Earth every day an infinite number of times. This is what infinite means. The reality is, as far as we know, we are alone. We have not had any visits from aliens. Fuzzy pictures are not proof.
.

Answer 5

You mean like if there was an 'expansion wave' of some kind proceeding after the Big Bang and moving outwards?

Probably.

But there is no 'front' to determine which galaxy cluster is moving out beyond the outer reaches of the known universe--as far as I know.

Answer 6

Have you ever thought it could be possible that a universe exists in a speck of dust that floats in the air and is highlighted by the sunlight of a sunny day?

There must be other lifeforms out there somewhere

Also if you look at myspace, it shows the size of the earth compared to the sun, and then then how small our sun is compared to other stars, its very trippy

Answer 7

Your first question cannot be answered in the 21st century so please join us in 30th perhaps I can answer it that time but I can tell that aliens may exist somewhere in the universe and the chances are 1/1000

Answer 8

Beyond the exspanding universe is open space, no stars no galaxies no black holes nothing, what would happen to you nothing you would just travel through darkness

Answer 9

you'd get a massive fine and a zillion points on your space cadet licence

there may well be intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxies, but sadly no sign of it on this particular planetoid

Answer 10

you just asked a mouthfull of questions that no scientist wants to hear( that's mostly the stuff that their baffelgap can not combat) Excellent Job!