| THEORIES WITH PROBLEMS - THE BIG BANG THEORY -> Shape of the Universe | Start A New Topic | Reply |
| Post Info | TOPIC: Shape of the Universe |
| Posted By: Nzoia Posted On: Mar 19, 2006 Views: 1045 | Shape of the Universe Question for the experts. I can understand the theory of space expanding and space moving all the galaxies away from one another; however, the example of the balloon can be misleading to lay people, like me, because the "dots" are only on the outer shell. What shape is space and the universe? Is it flat with second and third dimensional limited width? Or is it round, expanding in all directions? In the balloon example, space must fill the sphere. Help. |
| Posted By: BIlly Bob Posted On: Mar 19, 2006 Views: 1044 | RE: Shape of the Universe I think your confused because your thinking of space with all these boundaries. Try to imagine it without any specific demensions...It could be 100 dimensions for all we know. Hope that helps, but then again I don't know much about it either...Maybe Keith can help us out. |
| Posted By: Keith Mayes Posted On: Mar 19, 2006 Views: 1041 | RE: Shape of the Universe I wish I could! I find it just as hard to visualise as every one else. I can't make sense of it. Sorry. Keith |
| Posted By: Teddy Posted On: Mar 20, 2006 Views: 1031 | RE: Shape of the Universe I was reading a few different articles and they were saying how the universe may be one of a few different ideas. It could be spherical like the Earth, it could be parabolic, or flat. I also came upon another article on the internet that showed a timeline "picture" of the universe starting with the big bang. The article is very interesting to read too. You can go to it here --> http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0603/16wmap/ I hope that helps |
| Posted By: Nzoia Posted On: Mar 21, 2006 Views: 1023 | RE: Shape of the Universe Thanks for the article, Teddy. Very interesting. Still having difficulty with the shape of the universe though. Still having difficulty with the shape though. I am beginning to think that, maybe, it is not the shape that is difficult to grasp, but the poor explanation/writing/illustration skills of those who do understand. I'll keep working on it. |
| Posted By: Teddy Posted On: Mar 22, 2006 Views: 1015 | RE: Shape of the Universe Also don't forget...no one knows the exact shape of the Universe...there are only theories and people try to describe the shape based on that...but keep an open mind and you'll find what your looking for. |
| Posted By: Nzoia Posted On: Mar 22, 2006 Views: 1013 | RE: Shape of the Universe Thanks Teddy, I'll let you know when I have a clearer idea. See if I can put my money where my mouth is and explain it! |
| Posted By: DM Posted On: Mar 24, 2006 Views: 1005 | RE: Shape of the Universe Hi I think The balloon explanation is not that helpful for describing the shape of the universe. I think the reason is that a balloon is a very 3-dimensional image. It kinda makes sense if you think of just the area of the balloon that you would see in a 2-dimensional view. Forget about the back of it and what's inside, focus on the surface facing you. Mark the surface with dots to represent galaxies. As the balloon is inflated, the surface is stretched and the dots will move away from each other. Does this make sense? |
| Posted By: Keith Mayes Posted On: Mar 25, 2006 Views: 999 | RE: Shape of the Universe It isn't possible to describe the shape of the universe. The universe is all there is. By way of comparison. Imagine a two dimensional creaure that lived on a circle. It could walk round and round forever and never reach the end. It would consider its world was infinite. Asked to descibe its shape the creature would be unable to, it doesn't realise it is just a circle, as far as it can tell it is a world without end. We can see the shape of it because we live in a 3 dimensional world and thus can look down on his two dimensional circle and see its shape. To descibe the shape of the universe would require a being that existed outside of the universe. Hope that helps. Keith |
| Posted By: Owen T Posted On: Jul 25, 2006 Views: 962 | RE: Shape of the Universe Me and my Dad were having a discussion about the very same thing....The way I see it is this, its complicated but bear with me...If you read the article about Time on this site and have a look at the "cube" that is used to represent time and space....Keith has 'substituted' the vertical dimension, so that time can be shown....Now back to the balloon example that everybody knows so well...If we now imagine that you can only travel on the surface of the balloon, one dimension has again been "lost". The fact you can only travel either left/right and not up/down...Its like playing snake II on old nokia phones...once you reach the edge of the screen you come out the other side...I imagine space like that but the snake would be able to move in the 3rd dimension as well and 'come out the other side'.... Hope this helps a little...I know what I mean its just putting it into words... |