What is the expanding universe expanding into?

This is one of those questions we peobably won’t know because it essentially asks where we came from. I used to think about this a lot, but there’s no answer.

This is probably something we can only speculate about, until some genius comes around or we manage to develop the technology to reach the edge.

Another universe perhaps proving the multiverse theory? I’d like that.

I imagine that there is nothing—not even nothing—until the universe expands into it. The stuff that is expanding into whatever is probably the oldest stuff in the universe and is probably very, very cold, if not heat dead.

I guess I think the universe creates space as it goes. There is literally nothing there until there is something there. Kind of like what the universe was born into. The universe creates space. It defines space. It is all that there is—by definition.

Nothing, literally.

The total amount of energy in the universe is constant over time. One way to think of it is that in the direction of time we call “towards the future,” space increases as non-heat energy decreases.

There was an interesting article recently about a physicist who figured out how to derive not only the laws of gravitation, but the actual concept of space itself, from the more fundamental concepts of energy and entropy. So space “emerges” from the universe’s energy configuration. The change in the amount of space reflects a more fundamental change in the universe’s energy configuration.

I believe that they are now theorizing “Black energy”. Something like the nothingness is actually matter itself of somekind.

I am probably massacring what that physicist’s article actually said, by the way. It had to do with the holographic principle.

Here’s the article: http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.0785

Universe is square and would fall off edge just like here on earth.

The universe is expanding into nothingness. When you reach the edge and stick your hand out, you will be sticking it into nothing. Nothing is really a concept that is quite difficult to grasp.

If you could reach out into nothing, you would probably push some particles with your hand and thus alter the expansion in some infintesimal way. Yet, who knows? Perhaps you would push the particles that would attract more and over billions of years might spawn a new star or cluster or galaxy.

It would be impossible to stick your hand out “outside” the universe. There is no boundary which separates the universe from some sort of space outside it. By definition, all space is in the universe.

There is NO beginning and there is NO end to the Universe, Life or yourself.

The reason there is no explanation nor information on it is you are looking at it from a 3 dimensional enviornment. We will not figure it out because there is no answer to explain to our limited understanding.

Subatomic particles.

Every time this question comes up, I think, This is someting I can’t even begin to contemplate—I have a hard enough time knowing what to have for dinner. I think what the universe is expanding to is something we can never know. So… as I always do with this question, I turn to Woody Allen’s take in ANNIE HALL.

Nine-year old Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) has been taken to the family doctor by his mother because he’s depressed.

Doctor: Why are you depressed, Alvy?
Alvy’s Mom: Tell Dr. Flicker.
[Alvy sits, his head down – his mother answers for him]
Mom: It’s something he read.
Doctor: Something he read, huh?
Alvy: [his head still down] The universe is expanding.
Doctor: The universe is expanding?
Alvy: Well, the universe is everything, and if it’s expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!
Mom: What is that your business?
[she turns back to the doctor]
Mom: He stopped doing his homework!
Alvy: What’s the point?
Mom: What has the universe got to do with it? You’re here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!
Doctor: It won’t be expanding for billions of years yet, Alvy. And we’ve gotta try to enjoy ourselves while we’re here, eh?! While we’re here.

@Winters So one has to ask, if an astronaut flies to the edge of this Universe and steps half her body into the next door one, where the heck is she?

@wundayatta, Qingu, @hawaii_jake & @JustmeAman
Thanks for thoughtful answers. Perhaps it isn’t expanding into nothing quite so precisely as it is not expanding into anything at all. This would be the Trainman’s inescapable station concept from The Matrix. It appears from observations that no matter where you are in the Universe, there is as much volume in any direction you look as in any other.

@JustmeAman Yes, it’s becoming more than apparent that this is not a space defined by 3 spatial dimensions plus time.

@zeplin1947 Ha! Like the flat-earth theory, hey? Well, physicists do speak of space-time as being essential flat but warped in the areas of great mass. Maybe you’re right. :-)

@Austinlad Woody has a good point. A common misconception is that everything in the Universe is expanding right along with it. Not so. Brooklyn won’t ever expand. That, at least, is comforting.

The problem is one of perception. There is no “edge” of the universe so any speculation of what you would find there is just a problem of insufficient modeling. We cannot perceive if four dimensions so we cannot understand or comprehend the notion of the limitations of the universe.

It helps to consider that when we say the universe is expanding we aren’t talking about an outer boundary that continues to grow, but rather an increase in the empty space between things. It would be just as accurate (if not more confusing) to suggest that everything is shrinking at the same relative rate within the static expanse of space.

There is a ridiculously awesome theory out there now (I will post the link when I find it) by a theoretical cosmologist who suggests that the expansion of the universe is a byproduct of time turning into space. Mind-boggling to be sure, but it helps to solve the “Dark Energy” question.

@thekoukoureport The term “Dark Energy” is a theoretical term meant to denote the source of the energy that causes the universe to expand. In other words, if the universe is expanding their must be fuel for that continuous motion. We don’t know what it would be or what form it might take so we call it “Dark Energy” in the same way that we call the undetectable (or nearly undetectable) matter in the universe “Dark Matter”.

Personally, I think it’s shrinking.

@crazyivan Cool theory about time, but the rate of expansion is accelerating, would that men Time seems to move at an even pace for a given observer, so what would account for the acceleration?

@ETpro I can’t begin to comprehend the theory in its totality. I heard about it on a couple of podcasts but when I started reading up on it I got lost in a hurry. For a smarter person than myself they offer mathematical models that have apparently been tested against cosmic phenomena and found to have made valid predictions. It’s way too far over my head to answer any questions about it, though. I’ll find a link or two for you today.

There is no “into”.

@MeinTeil Profound answer.

It is not hard to comprehend when one thinks about us being in the 3rd dimension and that we don’t have all the answers.

That’s funny. @JustmeAman Somehow knowing that I do not have all the answers does nothing to make me feel like I have all the answers. :-)

@ETpro

That is because you don’t have all the answers… LOL

@JustmeAman Erm, that is why I ask so many questions. :-)

True wisdom comes from the knowledge that you know nothing at all…. or something like that I forget,