If the Universe is expanding ...

[joggerjayne]

Where is it expanding into ?

[cazzz1975]

someone else's universe?

[BuzzNitemare]

To infinity and beyond!

[joggerjayne]

Oh. Right.

Well, that's answered that, then.

Thanks, cazzz.

[joggerjayne]

... and Buzz.

[society]

Who says? And to where?

[ChuckFickens]

it's not expanding into anything. it's only expanding in so much as the distances between everything is getting larger, but the universe itself isn't getting larger because it's already infinitely large (and you can't get any larger than that)

[wazzamatter]

Around my waist

[peter-andre]

My trousers are expanding :)

[society]

Trust you Chuck for a sensible answer. What would we do without you... x

[joggerjayne]

But, Chuck ... if everything is getting furter apart from everything else, then it must all be getting all squashed together at the edges.

[joggerjayne]

I think I'll go to the pub for an hour.

Meeting smoker pal.

Back later.

x

[society]

Further apart but squashed together... hmmmmm

[BuzzNitemare]

Here you go, Jayne -

http://astrophysics.s...erse_and_the_big_bang


Our planet is just a raisin in an expanding loaf!

[rov1200]

I think we are all missing something. All the galaxies are expanding away from ours at an enormous rate so you would think our galaxy is at the centre of the universe. But this is not so. You would think that where the big bang occured would be the centre but our universe is light years away so how can we be at the centre. Paradox or what?

[ChuckFickens]

not really. everything in the universe is expanding away from everything else, so no matter where you "stood" in the universe of course it would look like everything was moving away from you, because it is. that doesn't make our location special in any way though.

[jake-the-peg]

Rov

The point is that the Universe itself is expanding.

It's not that stars and galaxies are rushing away from the centre of a big explosion - the very fabric of the universe is expanding.

A typical analogy is raisins in a lump of dough - as the dough rises the raisens are all acrried away from each other.

How do we know this?

Well the speed is proportional to the distance. Closer galaxies are receding slower than more diistant ones.

There is more space between the distant galaxies to expand and so they are moving away faster.

This is why it looks to every galaxy as if they are the centre.

What is it expanding into depends on the shape of the universe. We are not talking a simple 3 dimensions here.

It might be flat and infinite or it might be finite but without boundaries

If you imagine a Universe where if you travelled as far as you could in any direction you came back to where you started - that would be a 4 Dimensional Torius (ring doughnut)

A bit like this

http://www.youtube.co...tMu_Q&feature=related

[ChuckFickens]

^ he explains it far better than me :)

[Davethedog]

mmmmmm Doughnuts.

Homer J Dog

[mibn2cweus]

The universe is bound . . . by the Big Bang! As we look out from our point of view in the universe, we look back in time, finally, to the beginning of time to see that we are surrounded by the singular point which was (and is) the Big Bang. There is nothing that suggests that a similar observation would not be made from any other point in the universe.
The universe in not expanding 'into' anything . . . it is simply expanding away from itself.

[mollykins]

The definition of the universe is everything. Everything that is, can't be expanding into another something therefore i'm confused.