Universe expanding, how is this possible?

Question

everyone knows that the universe is expanding. but how can the universe be expanding in it is infinite? my idea is that what we know of as "our" universe is a small area of a larger universe that our universe floats in. which would mean that the Larger Universe is the infinite one. the does this sound logical? and eventually you could bring in 3rd demensions

Answer 1

when its saidthe universe is infinite (if it really is) that might be misunderstood. it could mean infinite in growth, not size, like you might think

Answer 2

The terminology in common use is all mixed up, even among professionals in the field. What most people mean when they use the word "universe" is simply "all reality which falls within our ability to perceive it". "Universe" is by definition "everything that exists, whether we can perceive it or not". Thus "multiverse" is also a misnomer.

In any event, you're on the right track - the cosmos as we know it is believed by most to exist within a sort of "hyper-reality" where there may be no such thing as time or the laws of physics. Trouble is that this "hyper reality" may itsELF exist within an even -more- expansive reality - the succession of levels to exist within any and all universes may indeed be infinite.

Just as a point of interest which nobody I know takes very seriously, but which is kind of interesting to speculate upon anyway: An alternate speculation posits that rather than expanding, the objects within the universe are actually collapsing in upon themselves at the speed of light. I'm not extremely familiar with the speculation, but do recall the easily-verifiable (or refutable) claim that this theory does not violate any known laws of physics, and that it would in fact lead to the exact same measurements on our part wrt how quickly the objects in the universe appear to be moving away from each other. There is no "minimum size" requirement in the universe, so we well could shrink at the speed of light and never fully disappear.

Answer 3

The part of the Universe we can see---13.7 billion lightyears in radius out to our event horizon---is certainly part of a much larger Universe we can't see.  We don't know what is beyond that, whether it is infinite or finite or whether there are other universes.

Answer 4

The universe is not infinite. Any theories about what lies outside of our universe (if anything) is just conjecture. Imagine anything you like.

Answer 5

Your idea is a theory. I have similar views.

Answer 6

the big bang started it and we are headed for the big rip http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/bi...

Answer 7

For the universe has been increasingly expanding from since its fuzzy nanoscopic orgin where it was brought into existence by a 'Prime Observer' according to the quantum mechanical concept known as 'Shrodinger's Cat'.

Job 9:8 ; Psalm 104:2 ; Isaiah 40:22 ; Isaiah 42:5 ; Isaiah 44:24 ; Isaiah 45:12 ; Isaiah 48:13 ; Isaiah 51:13 ; Jeremiah 10:12 ; Jeremiah 51:15 ; Zechariah 12:1

It will all end in a 'big rip' soon.

Isaiah 34:4 ; Revelation 6:14

Answer 8

The universe is not expanding.  It's just that more technology is beings sent out there and things like the Hubble are being put out there.  What they see has always been there.  They will send more and more telescopes further and further out in the universe to see more of what was always there.  We just never had the technology to view before now.  Look at all the probes that have been sent out and how much more we learned from them.  No, my friend, the universe is not expanding, we are just discovering areas not seen before only  with new technology.  Granted, new galaxies can form, but this doesn't expand the universe, just makes it more crowded.  New planets as well are being formed but not expanding our universe.  We are just expanding our horizens

Answer 9

How about we just say "our" universe is expanding.