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What would be beyond the balloon if the universe really were like that? Just empty space going on forever and ever and ever in all directions? Where did the matter come from in the first place? What created it? It can't have always just been there. It had to have a starting point somewhere, right?
When I think of the universe, I think of all space, all of the infinity of space, not just what we know is there. Somewhere out there, trillions upon trillions upon trillions of light years away from the edge of what we know of, well beyond the observable universe, perhaps other big bangs occurred. Perhaps our "universe" is just a part of a massive cluster of infinite "universes" occupying the space of the infinite universe, with billions of trillions to the trillionth power of light years of empty space between them all!
And it just goes on. Forever. No beginning, no middle, no end. Just space. Occupied or not, just nothing but space.
What would be beyond the balloon if the universe really were like that? Just empty space going on forever and ever and ever in all directions? Where did the matter come from in the first place? What created it? It can't have always just been there. It had to have a starting point somewhere, right?
Those are the big questions. I agree that if the universe began with the Big Bang, then it seems reasonable that something caused it. So, yes, there would have been a starting point before which there was no universe. That indeed suggests a field of some sort preexisted the Big Bang. It also suggests the 'field' in all likelihood will still exist even when the universe itself comes to an end. If the LHC finds any evidence for extra dimensions, that will certainly help bring us to a better understanding that there's more than just the space-time of the universe. While the universe at large scales is important, so too are the small scales of quantum mechanics. It's at the tiny scales where particles can be found to appear and disappear. Where are these particles coming from when they appear? Where do they go when they disappear?
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Originally Posted by cjg5
When I think of the universe, I think of all space, all of the infinity of space, not just what we know is there. Somewhere out there, trillions upon trillions upon trillions of light years away from the edge of what we know of, well beyond the observable universe, perhaps other big bangs occurred. Perhaps our "universe" is just a part of a massive cluster of infinite "universes" occupying the space of the infinite universe, with billions of trillions to the trillionth power of light years of empty space between them all!
And it just goes on. Forever. No beginning, no middle, no end. Just space. Occupied or not, just nothing but space.
So mind spinning to try and think about!
I agree, that the universe might be a single cluster of a much larger structure, part of a much larger 'universe' filled with other clusters as large as our own universe. Or it could be the Big Bang leading to the formation of the universe was the result of colliding branes that exist in a higher field of spatial dimensions called "the Bulk". Or there might be a higher field of multidimensions, a quantum foam, filled with 'bubble universes'. As yet, we just don't know the answers. It's possible we might never really know, but I think we'll certainly find a few answers that help give us a better understanding about the nature of the universe.
I agree but whatever started space..what started that? What started the starting of space? What started the starting starter for space and what created that? What created the creation that started the starting of space?
I agree but whatever started space..what started that? What started the starting of space? What started the starting starter for space and what created that? What created the creation that started the starting of space?
In terms of the 3-dimensional space of the universe, it started at moment of the Big Bang, simply because before the Big Bang, there was no universe. So what started space? I guess you could say the Big Bang started it.
That said, it's possible there could be more than the 3 dimensions of space usually we think of. If space is composed of 4 dimensions rather than 3, then you'd have a space that's much different than how we generally think of it. That extra dimension of space could be so large or so small that we can't perceive it. It terms of 3-dimensional space, the space is what you have when you have within a configuration of the dimensions of height, length and depth.
I read onec that if you can see far enough in sufficient detail you will see the back of your own head. I am not certain about that.
That was the beginning of a Simpsons episode, too. They kept zooming out and eventually zoomed out so far they ended up repeating the cycle.
I have always wondered what is "out there" in the universe. Usually, I give up because I can't dedicate my entire life trying to comprehend what the heck is going on in deep space.
Last edited by emcee squared; 03-21-2011 at 02:39 PM..
These are the hardest issues to grasp because they're so far beyond the human experience. Just as our eyes evolved to perceive a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum so too we evolved on a planet in a 4 dimensional universe (time is #4) so our perception is limited to those dimensions. It is pretty mind boggling to think that we really don't understand 95% of the universe (dark matter & dark energy) and that we don't know how it all started and where it came from.
These are the hardest issues to grasp because they're so far beyond the human experience. Just as our eyes evolved to perceive a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum so too we evolved on a planet in a 4 dimensional universe (time is #4) so our perception is limited to those dimensions. It is pretty mind boggling to think that we really don't understand 95% of the universe (dark matter & dark energy) and that we don't know how it all started and where it came from.
Although we think of the universe as containing 4 dimensions, our view is only in terms of the 3 spatial dimensions. Our view of time as a 4th dimension is kind of weird because our perceptions are never of the present. We peceive events that happened in the past, even if it was a tiny fraction of a second ago. When we observe things deep in the universe, we're looking at it how it was in the past, not how it is. And yet, to us, how it was is exactly how it is to us now.
Although we have yet to discover any other hidden dimensions, it's likely there are more. It's quite possible that instead of 3 dimensions of space, there may be 4. We can't perceive it in our everyday lives because it's just too small to detect.
There's a lot about the universe we don't know, and perhaps will never really know. But we continue to explore and learn. Just our view of the planets in our solar system is remarkable. Just thinking about what we've learned so far about Mars, is truly impressive. We're now aware that there are planets around other stars. We're just at the beginning of learning about this thing we call the universe.
Not only does the universe exist at incredibly vast scales, but it also exists at very tiny scales, at the scale of quantum particles. We are so tiny and meaningless in the overall scale of the universe, that we're all but invisible.
I agree, it is hard to grasp, but we'll continue to explore and learn more about the universe for a very, very long time to come. We'll continue to be amazed and impressed with each new discovery. That's pretty cool to think about.
String theory says there are 11 dimensions! Wrap your brain around that!
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What created the creation that started the starting of space?
