or would we just wrap back around?
2007-09-13 18:24:36 · 10 answers · asked by I.C.P. 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
depends on how you got there. Realistically (if the speed of light truely is a maximum which is debatable) then we could never reach the edge.
If the universe is expanding at the speed of light just to stay on the edge you would have to start your journey when the big bang occurred. If you travel away from the earth at the speed of light for a year then you are only one light year away from earth, in that time the radius of the universe has expanded by the same amount thus with C being constant and a maximum it is impossible to pass the threshold.
if on the other hand the speed of light is not the maximum then provided you could travel faster than light (still unlikely without some funky breaking down of matter or some such that we dont even have a clue about yet) then potentially you could reach the fringe but what would happen there? who knows. If we exist within a Multiverse then perhaps if you passed the threshold you could pop into another universe. but even if this were true we know nothing of the physical model in play there and you may just cease to exist.
On the other hand you could be right, it could be the surface of an ever expanding globe type object and you may get back to where you started.
If you and I are around when we work out the answer to this question we should consider ourselves very lucky my friend!
2007-09-13 18:44:09 · answer #1 · answered by delprofundo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My understanding of the known Universe is this. It is infinite extending forever in all directions. We do not know how far it extends because we do not have a way to see that far. To simplify the picture we can see other Galaxies outside of our own and the probability that Mankind will ever venture to another one of those is infinitely small. The distance to the closest neighboring Galaxy is so far away that even the best theories of how humans could ever reach it is purely Science Fiction.
The Nearest star on the other hand would only take a few hundred generations to reach at the best currents speeds that we can reach. If we could figure out a way to travel at the speed of light it would still take us a little over four years to reach out nearest neighboring star. Four years is probably a lot longer than anyone would survive with our current technology for life support systems. We would have to come up with new technologies to simulate or reproduce an artificial gravity so that our bones do not dissolve within our bodies, we would need to find a way to protect ourselves from the deadly radiation that we are protected from here on Earth. There are a great many things that we must overcome before we can even think about extended missions in space within our own Solar system to even think about a trip outside our solar system.
2007-09-13 19:03:30 · answer #2 · answered by AlaskaJoe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who knows?
We can speculate and speculate but we can't really find out.
Likely, it is not possible to reach the edge of the universe. Basically, the farther out you get, the faster it expands. At some point, this expansion exceeds light speed. Since we cannot exceed light speed, we cannot pass this boundary. So, we would neither leave this universe nor wrap back around, but instead be engulfed in darkness as the stars exceed away from us, growing ever more distant.
But again, who knows?
2007-09-13 18:29:16 · answer #3 · answered by TSSA! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably warp back around because there is no end and we would infinitely try to get to the end, but never reach it.
There is no "end of the universe" we can see. Light is the fastest thing in the universe, and because the universe is expanding faster than that (crazy as it sounds), or is at least larger than what we can see, we will never reach the "end of the universe" anyway. We don't even know the shape of the universe, let alone the end of it.
2007-09-13 18:55:09 · answer #4 · answered by AY1138 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've wondered PRECISELY the SAME thing- ALL my life!!! I mean, IS "infinity" REALLY endless... -where it just goes on, one Universe after another- indefinitely...? Or is "Space" circular- where if you went East forever & and you'd eventually return to yourself coming from the West??! Since Nature doesn't seem to like "straight lines" very much, I'm alittle inclined (how APPROPRIATE! :) )- to believe the circular possibility is more likely. We may never know- for sure. Perhaps there'll be a future "Einstein"- who'll figure it out for us... If we're lucky, maybe we'll live so long as to find out! :)
2007-09-13 18:44:49 · answer #5 · answered by Joseph, II 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Something that i think is that there is no end to the universe there is a possibility that you will reach another universe but it is a very small one because as we hear another universe might be light years away.
2007-09-13 18:29:37 · answer #6 · answered by Kevin T 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
humorous you ask, reason purely this week, i got here across an Irish artist who calls himself straightforward youngster & a great catchy music of his is on a television commercial. music suggested as 'Lil King Kong'. feels like something Zeppelin mighta executed on Zeppelin 3 if it grew to become into recorded on the instant. Youtube it! he's drawing comparisons to Beck & i'm very curious to hearken to greater.
2016-11-10 09:55:09 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we dont kno yet cuz our tech is advanced but not advanced enough 2 travel the universe....this question is actually my number one question
2007-09-13 18:29:00 · answer #8 · answered by lilpnayqtgurl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simply put, No.
2007-09-16 14:00:28 · answer #9 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe
2007-09-13 18:32:06 · answer #10 · answered by p106_peppy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋