What Do U Think - Topic

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Jan 10 2010 12:33pm

Quote (emkoirl @ Jan 10 2010 01:28pm)

We don't live in an infinite universe, it's just very very big (I assume you said infinite because it is so hard for us to imagine the size of the universe, just thought i would point that out for anyone who might think we actually do live in a infinite universe).

So how if our universe is "finite" how does it end? When you reach the end, do you hit a wall?

emkoirl

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#12

Jan 10 2010 01:00pm

Quote (stacked @ 10 Jan 2010 18:33)

So how if our universe is "finite" how does it end? When you reach the end, do you hit a wall?

Think of the universe as a bubble... from the point of the "big bang" it has been expanding. You cannot say something is infinite when it is not, The universe does not go on forever... Currently scientists estimate that the radius of the universe is around (at least) 78 billion light years (and expanding). As big as that may be, it is definitely not infinite.

Yes you would have to travel faster than the speed of light to catch up to the edge of the universe (and that is not possible, and yes there are theories about ways to travel from one point in space to another faster than the speed of light but i don't want to get into that now its a different topic) but again, just because YOU cannot reach the end does not make it infinite.

Oh and when you reach the end of the universe, you simply cannot go further. There is no space to travel into (of course do not forget that the universe is expanding so fast that you can never catch it without defying the laws of physics, but if you were somehow able to travel faster than it is expanding, that is what would happen)

This post was edited by emkoirl on Jan 10 2010 01:14pm

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#13

Jan 10 2010 01:16pm

Quote (emkoirl @ Jan 10 2010 02:00pm)

How does this bubble keep on expanding if matter can not be created of destroyed?

emkoirl

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#14

Jan 10 2010 01:26pm

Quote (stacked @ 10 Jan 2010 19:16)

How does this bubble keep on expanding if matter can not be created of destroyed?

Who says that matter cannot be created or destroyed?

You mean energy cannot be created or destroyed?

As for how it is expanding (the mechanics behind it) i cannot explain, I simply don't know that much about the subject and there are many theories out there so i have yet to look at them all and make up my mind.

But the universe is definitely expanding this has been proven it is a fact

This post was edited by emkoirl on Jan 10 2010 01:35pm

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#15

Jan 10 2010 01:50pm

Quote (emkoirl @ Jan 10 2010 02:26pm)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass

emkoirl

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#16

Jan 10 2010 01:56pm

Quote (stacked @ 10 Jan 2010 19:50)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass

Space has no mass.

Space is something that has the ablity to to contain mass or energy in general.

So expanding space does not violate any laws.

As for matter being created or destroyed, i agree with you on that. When i responded earlier i was thinking of matter being created (as in from another form, not from nothing)

This post was edited by emkoirl on Jan 10 2010 02:04pm

ZvLoD

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#17

Jan 11 2010 03:33am

If you can't reach the end of it and it is continously expanding, then it is technically infinite.. or will be. Like a singularity having infinite mass/gravity.

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#18

Jan 11 2010 04:00am

Quote (ZvLoD @ 11 Jan 2010 10:33)

If you can't reach the end of it and it is continously expanding, then it is technically infinite.. or will be. Like a singularity having infinite mass/gravity.

think of a sphere. it has no end too, but neither is it infinite. the universe could be similar.

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#19

Jan 11 2010 04:33am

It's infinite in the sense that no matter what you try to do, you're never going to see the end. Like the above poster said, its expanding space. If you could catch up to the edge of it, what would it look like? Endless black out infront of you, or a wall that says "End of the line". Although I guess it really doesn't matter, seeing as we're never gonna be able to find or see the edge of the universe.

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#20

Jan 13 2010 12:59pm

Quote (emkoirl @ 10 Jan 2010 11:03)

I will have to disagree.

We use earth as a model to find life, because we know that life can exist on such a planet (we are here arent we?).
From everything we know about how life works, we find that such a planet would be ideal for the development of life as we know it.

Now i agree that there is a chance that life can exist and be supported in places that we might think are uninhabitable (We don't know everything...)

But the safest bet is to assume that life thrives the most on a planet like ours (Again.. We are here arent we).

Now by doing so it does not mean we are looking for life similar to humans per se (It would be stupid to think that, just look at all of the species of earth, not to mention the extinct species and to expect that a life form would evolve so similarly to humans would be absurd even if the planet is an exact copy of earth)... We are just looking for life with a similar chemistry make up as all life currently known to us (Carbon based life forms).

See earth is not a good model because we are just the right size, at the right distance, and with the right sized star. whos to say there isnt a planet out there that is bigger than earth, at its right distance from its right sized star?

as for ANY life forms, scientists are almost certain there was once life on mars and simple bacteria is probably quite frequent but given how little we know about the cosmos we just havent found any other yet. and even though mars is so close, the fossilized bacteria was by chance that got to earth.

The other thing i wanna say that supports life in other parts of the universe is amino acids. Theories have suggested that amino acids arrived from outer space. this is likely because there are waaay more amino acids in space than on earth. im not saying that our chunk of rock didnt have its own amino acids to begin with but it is more probable to say that a rock chanced by and struck the earth leaving its amino acids. who knows if another rock crashed into a planet out there somehwere and gave that planet some much needed amino acids to create life?

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