OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?

Phoenix-D · #1 February 11th, 2004, 05:27 AM

How the !@%$ could you prove infinity? In the real world at least?

Here, I can now prove to you that something is infinite. Tell me any number. No matter how large that number will ALWAYS have a number larger than it and no matter how tiny it will always have another smaller.

Renegade 13 · #2 February 11th, 2004, 05:29 AM

Simply put Atrocities, we DO NOT KNOW what lies outside the observable universe. And although there are some theories that some appear to accept, the very nature of the universe makes it impossible for us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what is beyond what we can see.

By the way, you should have considered becoming an astronomer with all the cosmological questions you ask. Either that, or Subscribe to some reputable astronomy magazines. The articles can be quite interesting, and answered a lot of the questions I had about the nature of the universe. Of course, they also raised a lot more questions! But I guess that's how you acquire knowledge, by asking questions.

narf poit chez BOOM · #3 February 11th, 2004, 05:36 AM

infinite number? 1/3

Taz-in-Space · #4 February 11th, 2004, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Tell me any number. No matter how large that number will ALWAYS have a number larger than it and no matter how tiny it will always have another smaller.

Ahhh, yes; but that would assume that I ever got done writing down my number. But since I am going for the very BIGGEST number, I would be still writing digits down when I died. So, FOR ME AT LEAST, there would still be no proof!

Fyron · #5 February 11th, 2004, 05:56 AM

Ok. Any number you can think of, call it n, there is at least one number bigger than it, n + 1. There is no magical cutoff where you can no longer add 1. Thus, numbers can be infinitely large.

Also, you can in no way dispute the fact that 1/3 in decimal form is an infinitely long number. There is no point at which it magically drops the 3s.

[ February 11, 2004, 03:57: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

narf poit chez BOOM · #6 February 11th, 2004, 06:07 AM

it's called logical extension. once you've done 0.33, you can assume that it repeats infinitly, becuase, well, i'll let Fyron explain if it needs more explaining becuase my brain just crashed.

Roanon · #7 February 11th, 2004, 06:09 AM

Your picture of an expanding balloon is not bad. But it's more like the universe is located on the SURFACE of that balloon. We do not have a "center" of the universe. Of course, this is a rough translation, as the universe is 3D and the balloon surface only 2D. Now you just have to think about a 4D balloon with a 3D surface

So, keeping that picture, it is very difficult to tell what the universe is expanding into, as there is no "into" - at least not for us. A two-dimensional being living on the surface of said balloon would not be able to comprehend the existance or location of an "inside" or "outside" of that balloon. For the same reason, it is not possible to locate the spot of the Big Bang, as it is equally distant from every spot in the universe but not located within that universe any more - we are not able to see the "inside" of that balloon and to the center there.