How big is the universe?

Question

Steady state or big bang?

Answer 1

Assuming you are talking about the visible universe, about 13.7 billion light years in radius, which translates to 27.4 billion light years in diameter. A light year is 6 trillion miles. The thing is, that distance measurement only tells how long light has been traveling to reach us from the most distant luminary objects. However, the 13.7 billion years is referred to as "look back" time. Because space has expanded significantly over the last 13.7 billion years, the actual radius might be more like 50 billion light years.

Steady State has been debunked as a theory because of observations, not the least of which was the discovery of the microwave background radiation, which is the first light after photons were free to travel out of the quark soup of the early universe, which occurred about 100,000 earth years after the Big Bang. The Big Bang (a derogatory misnomer whose name stuck) is being confirmed by more and more tests, which are more and more refined, as progress in cosmology is ongoing.

Answer 2

Highly unlikely. While quite possible that our universe is just one universe in a multiverse of other universes, it is unlikely we are an atom or atoms in a macro universe where we are just particles. Quantum mechanics shows that primary particles like quarks and electrons all have the same mass, charge and spin. Thus the electron on the tip of your finger has the exact mass as an electron in a stars corona ten billion light years from here. And the charge of an up quark forming the proton of an atom making up the upper right pixel of your computer’s screen is exactly the same as the one as an up quark in the Orion nebula. In the observable universe stars, galaxies, planets all have different masses, magnetic fields, etc. For us to be primary particles in a macro universe it would have to be pretty unstable.

Answer 3

No one knows if the universe is infinitely large, or even if ours is the only universe there is.

Although our view of the universe is limited, our imaginations are not. Astronomers have indirect evidence that the universe of galaxies extends far beyond the region we can see. But no one knows if the whole universe is infinitely large - large beyond limit.

According to the leading theories, other parts of the universe may look very different from our own - and may even have different laws of nature. We may never be able to find out for sure. But it is possible that clues to the answer lie in plain view, just waiting to be discovered!

Answer 4

It depends upon your energy state. If you are on planet Earth, it appears to be incredibly immense. However, if you were traveling just short of the speed of light (and therefore possessing more mass/energy density), objects in the direction of your travel would appear shorter. If you were traveling fast enough, you'd notice your clock showed you only ticked a few seconds while you traveled several light-years. Since the speed of light appears to be the same for all observers, this would mean that the "universe", at least in the direction of your travel, has shrunk to a few light seconds from a few light years. If you carry this thought to encompass "any" higher energy state, you'll see that the "size" of the universe depends upon the size of your energy density. If you were pure energy, your time would be "zero", and the universe would appear infinitesimally small as you could travel completely around it in no time. So, "big" is observer dependent.

Answer 5

The Big Bang theory is the best one yet. So far, we have looked back 13.7 billion years into the past, so the diameter of the universe is twice that in light years, or 27.4 billion light years.

Answer 6

1.No good asking God, he turns a deaf ear when it comes to humans, or it would intervine and stop the human race from killing each other in the name of GOD.
2. In the beginning with the big bang it is said that the universe expanded faster than the speed of light ? I thought nothing when faster than the speed of light ?

Answer 7

its not infinite as i read i some of the answers but its still expanding and expanding super fast maybe faster than speed of light

well in one of my text books it said that universe was million billion triallion billion trillion million meters big
well my wording isnt right
but you get the idea b/c wat it said didnt made any sense

and about big bang and steady state
the idea keeps on going back and forth
and big bangs the one in play rite now

Answer 8

I personally don't think there is a limit.
Take this for example:
If you take a speck of sand from the beach and split it in two, does it disappear? No
Now, take those two pieces and split them in two? Do they disappear? No
Split them further? There is still something.

No matter how much you split something, there will still be two smaller pieces. Therefore, the same must apply to the universe. And anyway, nature hints at this order everywhere. How do you think ants feel?

Answer 9

Because of the big bang the universe is finite but unimaginably large it is not infinite.

Answer 10

At least 20 billion light years. Big bang, the evidence seems to support it (i.e expansion).