|  JINKSC | Apr 6, 6:46pm | | a thought, what would happen if one come to the edge of the universe, and threw a spear, into what would he or she be throwing the spear into??? |
|
| 
|  eta-carinae | Apr 6, 7:35pm | | well I used to think that it was into nothing, then I thought that it went into the next universe, and now I'm stuck between there is no end or it somehow loops back into itself by some type of hypersphere or something of the sort. I've kind of given up on trying to figure it out because it kept bugging at me for such a long time that I forced it out of my mind. Thanks a lot. |
|
| 
|  eat | Apr 6, 7:54pm | | Spears aren't allowed there. |
|
| 
| |
| | | italian-scallion | Apr 6, 8:09pm | | Sylvia Browne |
|
|
| |
| 
Sponsor |  tonyenkiducx | Apr 7, 4:25am | Your assuming there is a physical end of course. It's more likely the barrier at the end of the universe is time, not a physical place. Think of it this way, if the universe was to expand at the speed of light travelling within it(Unless there is a crazy physical barrier somewhere, and we would have seen it by now), then it would be impossible for anyone to ever reach the end of it. You could bring up wormholes or folding space, but almost all the vaguely sensible methods of FTL travel require a gravitational point to fix on or a naturally occurring phenomenon, and the extent of the universe will be a vast distance beyond even the earliest matter.
So for all intents and purposes, so far as I see it, the universe is infinite, and every second longer we spend thinking about it it has expand aprox. another 300,000 miles beyond our reach. In fact, this would make the universe about 253,212,017,061,888,000,000,000,000 miles in diameter if you used the presence of light as the definition of the universe. No small distance, even if you had a bugatti veyron to get there. |
|
| 
Sponsor | | MJ-Brutus | Apr 7, 6:35am | The edge of the universe is to be found at the center of every galaxy, and elsewhere, in the form of black holes. Other than that, there is no edge. Of course, if there were a real edge as OP postulates, then no light, no matter and no energy would be beyond that edge. You would perceive nothing resembling an edge and anything you threw would be held back by gravity.
Of course, staring into a black hole, the opposite would hold true: nothing would escape the pull once caught by its gravity. |
|
|
Sponsor | | tonyenkiducx | Apr 7, 8:47am | I think the point is more that there is a single point source of matter and energy in the universe, and everything radiates out from that point. Before matter and energy exist at a point in space then that is a complete void, and it's not part of the "universe" but it is "space". So the edge is actually a constantly moving location..
There is NO actual fixed edge to the universe, I wont even dignify that suggestion with a debunking it's so rediculous. Also, things *can* and do escape from Black Holes, in the form of hawkings radiation. I kinda see what you mean, but black holes are hungry beasts, and require constant matter and energy to stay alive. When the universe ends it will be with a very slow fading of the last piece of energy, as all the black holes would have blown themselves up a long long time before that. If you believe in the slow fade :P |
|
|
Sponsor | | MJ-Brutus | Apr 7, 8:50am | | I beg to differ. There is no space outside of the universe. (Except for the theoretical possibility of other universes.) Without time, there can be no space. And time is the differences between velocities of different objects. Without matter (or energy), there can be no time. Without time, no space. Nor even a void. There is only potential and manifest reality. At least according to modern cosmology and physics. |
| |
| |
Science Junkie → Discussion