What's beyond the edge of the universe?

SilviaCD's · #1 10-26-2003, 08:04 PM

This question has to be the most mind-boggling to thing to answer in the universe. What is outside of the expanding universe which holds our solar system and so many other galaxies? What is our universe expanding into?

Here are some theories from other people I have talked on other forums:

"... it [the universe] expands into nothing, when it expands, matter is being created, not grown into anything. There of course could always be the argument that our universe could be part of a larger universe or something, but of course there isn't any proof saying that, or otherwise."

"one idea is that the universe is still expanding and if u were flying faster then the universe is expanding then, you might fly in to the 'dark matter' that might slow you down till the universe catches up(but also the universe is suposidly expanding faster then the speed of light, so other then arguing the rules of reletivity and going faster then the speed of the expanding universe. its and 'out there' idea... another idea is you could fly through time and in to another 'blah' (who knows what)... let me think some more on this and ill be back later. "

"this is wicked to think about
it's like saying there's something outside the universe... what could that be?
the universe cause beyond human comprehension"

"I've heard some people say that there is no edge, and that travelling at any speed in one direction will eventually lead you back to your original starting position. Making sense of that is hard

And how can the universe be expanding faster than the speed of light...I thought Einstein showed that nothing could be accelerated to, or beyond, the speed of light?"

"Scientists have been able to sustain a fusion power of a star for a few seconds, so we are on the way to getting fusion reactors...

The fusion power of a star? That's a lot of power. We have been able to initiate a 'controlled' fusion reaction, yes. But if you're implying that said reactions even approach the energies released from a star, you're horribly wrong. Even the H-bombs in which we just let it go wildly lack even a fraction of the energy of a star.

But to the comment itself: Yes we can create fusion reactions. But we haven't managed to create one without using more energy to control it than the fusion reaction itself generates. It's like using the electricity of a city to control enough fusion power to run a house.

Plus it doesn't seem like the speed light would be too far behind since they can accelerate particles that fast already...

We can't accelerate anything to the speed of light that isn't light. It's impossible. We have accelerated extremely small subatomic particles to near the speed of light.

This still doesn't mean that it would be easy to accelerate a spaceship to such speeds. The particle accelerators that move electrons at such high speeds are miles long and cost billions of dollars.

Think about it. (Now I use a high school textbook example!) If a single atom was the size of a football field, the nucleous would be the size of a single bean. Now let's make everything bigger again. So big that the nucleous is the size of the football field. (The atom is now the size of a state or something.) An electron would be the size of a bean.

Electron's are small. And it still takes billions of dollars of construction, a many-miled long accelerator, and thousands upon thousands of dollars for each acceleration.

We may eventually be able to accelerate ourselves to near-light speeds, but it won't be using particle-accelerator technology. It will have to be something completely new."

My theory: ***nods head in mental defeat*** I don't know. It's such a crazy question to even think about. I mean, you know that feeling you get in your mind when you try and answer questions like these and you feel like your literally going crazy and out of your mind? And then for some reason no matter how much you try to keep your mind on the thoughts you can't stay concentrated and it feels like your mind is pulled away from the question? I can't stand it!!! It gives me an eerie feeling about everything as a whole and this sense of defeat. Okay, even if there actually IS an exapnding universe, where the hell did it come from? What was the FIRST thing to ever to exist in "our" "world"? What our your thoughts?

Here's a link to a strange UFO shot in space which is supposedly the most famous one of them all. Just wanted to include it in the thread for the "hell" of it. It shows two strange floating objects over the horizon of the earth's atmostphere, and it appears as if one of the UFO's fires at the other. The video was taken by theSpace Shuttle Discovery:http://www.qtm.net/~geibdan/videoclips/sts48.qt

Carguy393 · #2 10-26-2003, 08:48 PM

This is some of the reasoning that I eventually used to justify GOD. Where did everything come from? When did time begin and what happened before that? Just think about it.....

replicant_008 · #3 10-27-2003, 05:43 PM

Fusion:
We aren't even close to controlling a fusion reaction... To achieve nuclear fusion requires the fusing of deterium (an isotope of hydrogen) into helium - the types of pressure and heat required to generate such a reaction have so far outweighed any of the energy produced by the reaction. Sustained fusion to be proven would require the release of energy in excess of the energy exended to apparently start the reaction...

And as for the General Theory of Relativity, this suggests that as you approach the speed of light that relative to someone else time would appear to slow down, the length would decrease etc... This all assumes that the General Theory of Relativity holds true - however, it is only a theory and may not apply in all situations.

The General Theory of Relativity appears to explain a number of phenomenon observed but doesn't explain all of them - on the other hand, quantum mechanics explains many of the phenomenon NOT explained by the General Theory of Relativity - however both have anomalies.... and since we have observed all phenomena then it's pure speculation to expect that either theory will explain everything...

As for the expansion theory of the universe - I think your issue may be understanding what a void actually is - it possess neither mass, volume, time, space or any of the other elements of matter or dimensions that you and I are familiar with. We can't visualise or even understand it except as a mathematical construct because we can't comprehend something we can't observe or conceptualise.

One of the hardest things about current atomic theory to comprehend is a neutron. Most folk can understand that a electron has a negative charge and mass and that protons have a positive charge and mass - but how the heck do you understand a neutron with no charge and mass?

TexasF355F1 · #4 10-27-2003, 05:48 PM

I've thought about this before too. Pretty crazy if you think about all the possiblities which like the universe may be are infinite. Replicant I don't know what you do for a living but you sure know a lot and I find everything you write extremely interesting. Almost always a learning experience for me.

Shiftlock · #5 10-27-2003, 06:44 PM

Lets say you where to travel at the speed of light.How would one control such a craft and avoid crashing.You wouldn't be able to see,and you'd require radar that could cover billions of miles a second.

RyanGiorgio · #6 10-27-2003, 07:03 PM

Excuse me while my brain explodes. Kidding. But that was very interesting and mind-boggling to read.

I've heard some theories related to the expansion of the universe. Scientist say that there are two possible theories to go along with the expansion of the universe. The boring one is that eventually space will reach a limit of expansion and everything will disappear or be sucked away (something like that...a friend told me all of this a while ago. BTW he did learn it in school) Anyway, the other theory is that when space reaches that limit, it would start to move in reverse and everything would devolve. Time depends directly on space, so mankind would devolve along with space. Pretty crazy to think about huh?

replicant_008 · #7 10-27-2003, 07:36 PM

Reply to Shiftlock:
Radar works on radio waves - a signal is sent and when the signal strikes an object the echo bounces back to the transmitter... Your statement makes no sense as:

a) Travelling at the speed of light the radio wave transmitted by your craft would not travel any faster than your craft going forward of your ship and signals beamed behind you would never catch up...

b) Radio waves move at the speed of light so it would only be possible to cover 300,000 kilometers using a 2 second send and receive interval.

In any case, one of Newton's laws of motion is that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Provide enough thrust for a sustained period and there is no theoretical constraint to accelerating to the speed of light - apart from the fuel required to provide the thrust...

As for the expanding universe theory - even that can't explain all of the apparent mass of the visible universe or explain the apparent speed of some objects... given the observable phenomenon and if the the gravitational constant is to hold true - ie the apparent gravitational force for a given mass, which was thought to remain the same - but apparently it can't explain a number of things so hence the idea of strings and dark matter...

Carguy393 · #8 10-27-2003, 11:06 PM

I'M F**king lost

Steel · #9 10-28-2003, 01:14 AM

Oh yeah, don't forget that as you approach the speed of light, your mass increases. Sure, within 99.99999% of the speed of light, you'll only gain a few grams, but that last .00001 is the period it would become infinite. Makes it kind of hard to fit in the universe if your mass becomes infinite.

I don't believe it will ever be possible for us to travel at the speed of light. It's generally accepted that the whole time travel and paradox causing aspects of it is enough to keep it as a very low priority on the list of "things to think about" that all those astrophysicist/quantam mechanics have. The Grand Unified Theory is what's getting the buzz these days.

BLU CIVIC · #10 10-29-2003, 01:54 PM

I try and think about this stuff.....but everytime i get so far then my mind goes blank...and i do mean blank.....like running into a brick wall at full speed head first.....it's funny b/c it takes me a while to get my thoughts straight so think i can think about something else

SilviaCD's · #11 10-31-2003, 02:55 PM

Wanna hear some more crazy stuff? It has been theorized many times before that if you are being sucked into a black hole and you were to look back behind you you can see the history of the universe unfold in front of your eyes. It has something to do with time and speed.

It has been theorized that if you do reach the speed of light, you will go back in time. That is because that is how fast the universe is expanding. So if you can fly towards the edge of the universe at the speed it is exapnding then you will be going back in time.

Einstein said that the closer to the speed of light you get the slower time would pass for you, but to an obsever that is not traveling at the speed of light and he's watching you it would appear that you hauling ass.

I don't know, there's more stuff those theories it's just that I can't explain them.

BLU CIVIC · #12 10-31-2003, 03:23 PM

CONFUSING STUFF

bobby28384 · #13 11-01-2003, 02:05 PM

I think GOD knows. Maybe heaven exceeds the universe....I don't believe that the universe expands and contracts. Who knows?

integra818 · #14 11-02-2003, 10:09 PM

What's beyond the edge of the universe you ask???...NOTHING. It's like asking "what do you think about when you're dead".

Since you've spent most of your life with thoughts in your head, you have the conception (am I using the right word?) that you ALWAYS have to think which makes you wonder...what do you think about when you're dead, NOTHING. Since you've spent most of your life (or all of it, either one) in a place somewhere, you get the conception that there always has to be a 'place' whereever you are, even outside the universe, but I think there's really nothing outside, nothing at all. There doe'snt HAVE to be something outside of the universe.

You may be thinking "There HAS to be something outside of it, space just goes on". This is what I'm talking about...there could be NOTHING at all outside the universe.

-Davo · #15 11-11-2003, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanGiorgio

Excuse me while my brain explodes. Kidding. But that was very interesting and mind-boggling to read.

I've heard some theories related to the expansion of the universe. Scientist say that there are two possible theories to go along with the expansion of the universe. The boring one is that eventually space will reach a limit of expansion and everything will disappear or be sucked away (something like that...a friend told me all of this a while ago. BTW he did learn it in school) Anyway, the other theory is that when space reaches that limit, it would start to move in reverse and everything would devolve. Time depends directly on space, so mankind would devolve along with space. Pretty crazy to think about huh?

You're talking about "The Big Crunch". I read that scientist say that the same force that created the universe (i.e. the big bang) will also end it, the opposite to the big bang. The Universe will then cave in on it self.
I don't know if it will take billions of years, or instant. Sorta like an earthquake (my theory), it takes years to build a building, but in seconds it can crumble.

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