What is outside (or around) the universe?
This has always confused me. If the universe is always expanding…what is it expanding into? What existed before the universe began? Can there be a NOTHING?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
34 Answers
Nothing. Our material universe is finite, as well as space. Outside of the universe, there isn’t empty space, but: nothing.
No one knows where it came from or if it makes sense to ask what is ‘outside’ of space.
They say it’s expanding, because all points in space are getting further away from one another. Originally, physicists thought the rate of expansion would slow down and the universe would begin to contract again due to gravititational pull between the stars and galaxies, and everything would go back into a ball and there would be another big bang.
Now they’re pretty sure the gravitational attraction won’t be strong enough, and so the universe will just get bigger forever.
Some people think it’s a multi-verse, which would mean that we’re surrounded by other universes.
I (like the rest of humanity) doesn’t really know.
Ok…but what is nothing? if nothing just means emptiness, what is the emptiness made of?
If everything has a balancing opposite, then why can’t the opposite of everything be nothing?
We can never answer this question. We cannot predict or interact with something that doesn’t comply with our laws of physics. Let’s move along before our heads explode.
This is what I can remember from a Nova I saw a few years back. According to M theory (an offshoot of string theory) the universe is made up of strings located on a gigantic membrane. We cannot escape from this membrane and it is a bit like a slice of bread in a loaf. There are other membranes that we could never detect around us in the multiverse and our universe was created by two of them crashing together.
Personally I think that the word universe should encompass the whole of everything but that’s just me. I’m not sold on M theory either because I have the crazy notion that science should be verifiable or testable in some way… silly me.
There’s a huge mirror out there so that the great minds of the world will ooo and awe at the expanse of the universe without realizing how finite it is.
Really.. I think it’s just God out there.
Since the edge of the universe is about 96.128 BLY away, I could go check, but you would be dead before I got back. (3 days for me, 432½ billion years for you)
The very edge of the universe is a soft tortilla shell inside of a crispy taco shell w/ a layer of refried beans in between.
What’s north of the north pole?
the physical brain of god. ;)
@Jeruba The other side of the mirror naturally.
My mother-in-law.
Hey-oh!
No one has a definite answer. There might be a multiverse or a collection of “bubble” universes and our universe is only one of many.
Please also keep in mind that our human brain could be compared to that of a worm crawling on the surface of the Earth, totally unaware of the extra dimension containing the moon and stars. According to Einstein, if you board a spaceship and leave Earth on a straight course (never going left or right or up or down) and you think you’re heading for the end of the expanding universe it’s an illusion. You will always be sort of at the center of it. If you’re really going fast for a very long time you will get back to Earth. It’s like boarding a plane and always going straight.
People sometimes wonder what the size of our universe is and one answer is 93 billion light years. It sounds like a paradox given the limitation of the speed of light and the age of our universe which is approx. 13.7 billion years. There’s a rather complicated concept called co-moving distance. If you’d like to dig in deeper, just let me know.
The universe is literally creating its own space. In that context, asking what the universe is expanding “in to” is not necessarily the right question to be asking.
Space itself is part of the universe. Terms like “outside” do not even make sense without the concept of space.
So the question doesn’t make any sense. It’s like asking what’s north of the north pole, or what the properties of the 361st degree of the inside of a triangle are like (or, likewise, what happened before the big bang).
@Ivan and @Qingu – From the human mind point of view the question makes definitely sense to me. It’s a very legitimate question every curious person will ask at some point in his or her life. And there are physical and metaphysical attempts to find explanations, see my comment above. There are even harder questions like ‘why is there a universe in the first place?’ or ‘why am I me?’ – In my opinion it’s the nature of the human mind to be curious. The human mind has no choice but to be curious.
@mattbrowne, but if the universe contains all of space (and if you want to extend to the multiverse, then that’s fine too, we’d just be talking about the multiverse), then the question really just doesn’t make sense. “Outside” and “around” are space words. They are concepts that only make sense in the context of space.
If there is no space, you can’t be “outside” or “around.” In the same way, it is impossible to be “north of the north pole.” The concept of north only makes sense in the context of the Earth’s surface.
@Qingu – I know that the notion of “outside” doesn’t withstand the scrutiny of scientific method. My point was that the human mind has to deal with concepts it can grasp. It’s normal to contemplate what outside could mean in this context. All questions are allowed. Don’t tell me your brain and thought processes are wired in 11-dimensional space of gray matter strings ;-)
Within the confines of our own physical universe, I think Qingus got it.
But if one expands the parameters to include metaphysical, and, or ultra-dimensional reality, mattbrowne is on spot.
Even we mere human beings exist in 3.5 dimensions (H x W x L, plus time, but we can only travel unilaterally here: how many remember tomorrow?)
I myself am a time traveler; just 10 hours ago I was visiting yesterday!
; D
Surely if this is a multiverse, or if there are other universes out there, the proposition is testable.
I apologize for calling you Shirley, but what else could I do?
I am constantly astounded by the depth and breadth of the human ego. To believe that we have almost quantified and defined our “reality” is as pompous as the idea that animals, other than ourselves, don’t think.
The human race needs to collectively get over itself.
lol.. but when you are able to ask questions like “what’s outside of the container of everything we know to be real”.. it’s hard not to think we’re the sh*t!
i dunno.. i think we’re pretty great.
We are also the same race that developed slavery, genocide, and nuclear weaponry. That, if nothing else, should humble us a bit.
Actually ants were practicing slavery and genocide, and chimpanzees practiced genocide as well. Though I suppose we are guilty re: nuclear weapons.
if you were able to somehow get to outside the universe, which is impossible, would you not just be floating within your own mind?
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
