How can an infinate thing, such as the universe, be expanding?

Question

Im refering to the "Big Bang" theory.

Answer 1

That is what the theory is trying to explain. We can see a Doppler shift in light from distant galaxies. Physics gives one and only one explanation for that Doppler shift; that is movement away from us. And the more distant a galaxy is the greater its Doppler shift. We can SEE that with a spectrograph attached to a large enough telescope. All the rest is an attempt to explain WHY we see that.

Answer 2

It is expanding because new empty space just “appears” in between objects like galaxies.

We don’t know why the expansion happens, nor if the Big Bang theory is correct, but we do know that the expansion is for real as we can detect it with our telescopes and many other instruments.

We also don’t know if the Universe is really infinite or not. Still, even if it is infinite, then the expansion becomes more intriguing to us as it is very difficult to understand the concept being apply to the infinity of the Universe.

But if you analyze the theory, you will see that it is very possible to expand the Universe if it is infinite, because in math, if you add, subtract, multiply or divide the infinite with any number, the result is still infinite. So it is perfectly fine to say that and infinite object is expanding, because you are adding to infinite, so you still get infinite.

If this simple example is not clear to you, then just forget about this kind of topics as it will only frustrate you. I’m saying this because as far as our theories go, we actually don’t even think the Universe is really infinite, but that it has no boundaries. This is because is not just based on a 3 dimensional space as we all are use to, but a 4th dimension which is time. And due to Einstein’s theories of Relativity, we can not go faster than light, and believe it or not, the expansion is faster than light when seen from very far away, so technically we can not “reach” the end as we can not even see it because the light from it never reaches us as the expansion overcomes it.

We are not used to what reality is. We are “blind” all the time as we based our knowledge on the everyday things here on Earth and you have to stop thinking like that if you wish to understand a little bit better how our world really is.





Note to xjmox14x:

the material inside of the Universe is not expanding. The universe itself is expanding. New “emptiness” is created every second with the expansion. The infinity of the universe actually “grows” even more every second. Weird isn’t it?. We believe that Dark Matter has to do with it, but we are not sure yet as Dark Matter is still a theory too.

Answer 3

it's like a balloon being blown up.

we are living on the surface of the balloon. although the balloon has a size, it has dimensions, those dimensions are always expanding, getting bigger. every point on the surface of the balloon is getting farther away from every other point as it's being blown up.
but we can't get off the surface of the balloon. the surface is the universe.

by the way, the universe is not technically infinite. they call it finite but unbounded. it's the surface of the balllon., but that surface itself is always growing.

it's hard to think of, because the balloon clearly exists in space, so we can imagine an outside, but there is no outside to the universe. the reason why this is true is that the universe exists in 4 dimensions, not the 3 that we experience.


and i have to say that people who are answering that the universe doesn't expand but the stuff in it does are UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT. the universe itself is indeed expanding.

Answer 4

Infinite is relating to (in space terms) farther than anything every created, is, or touched by man has ever gone or seen. and even further than that, the scientists have estimated infinite size because they see other galaxy, and you know how big ours is. And they say it is expanding because the farthest spot we reached by telescope that we think is the end...Theres More!. and Space will continue on growing. like a human body how you grow from just a cell, to a 6 foot business man, or doctor, etc. And the big bang theory is true, because what is happening know relates to that theory. I hoped I helped!

Answer 5

I don't get science at all... But i've wondered the same thing. All my life i've been told that the universe goes on forever. Now they're saying it's not. I don't like that theory though, cause if the universe was formed from a tiny speck, that speck still had to exsist before it exploded. So for those who say the universe had to have a beginning... so did that speck.

Answer 6

Imagine a rubber band with knots in it. as you pull the ends the knots get farther away but also the space between them gets farther away. So not only are we getting farther away from the other galaxies but consequently the universe is expanding also. At least that's how the theory goes.

Answer 7

"infinite" has no verification - it is just a concept for example how would you propose to veryify that something is 'infinitely long' ? you could measure it... you could still be measuring it 24,567 years from now and not be close to the end right? you could still be measuring along after 254,900 years right? still not finished? you'll never be finished measuring it so you haven't confirmed yet that it is "infinite" see the problem? there simply is no way to verify infinity - its only a concept
How can anyone then say that "the universe is infinite" ???

Answer 8

there are major problems with big bang theory. see dark energy and dark matter. probably because the universe is not infinate, and the numbers are really too large for human minds to comprehend. some things are meant to remain mysterious.

Answer 9

The universe refers to the endless empty space. The material inside of it is expanding.

Answer 10

What is infinite is the space into which the galaxies canoccupy.EExpansion means that the galaxies are increasing their distances between each other.