is space wider on the side or top to bottom?

[fire400]

lastly, does the Universe have an atmoshpere? how long do we have until the sun bursts?

how many years do we have left before our genes break down and we become zombies?

 

[Vaktathi]

No, the Universe does not have an atmosphere.

We have several billion years before the sun expands (but not explodes) to engulf the earth.

Genes to not break down and make people into zombies.

As for Ceiling and floor, think of it more as a constantly expanding sphere, dissipating at an extraordinary rate.

 

[gamefreakgcb]

Originally posted by: Vaktathi
No, the Universe does not have an atmosphere.

We have several billion years before the sun expands (but not explodes) to engulf the earth.

Genes to not break down and make people into zombies.

As for Ceiling and floor, think of it more as a constantly expanding sphere, dissipating at an extraordinary rate.

dead on :thumbsup:

What inspired the question though?

 

[IEC]

While the universe doesn't appear to have an "atmosphere", the "void" of space is not true. You will always be colliding into matter/anti-matter, even if it's at minuscule densities.

 

[MetalStorm]

Originally posted by: fire400
lastly, does the Universe have an atmoshpere? how long do we have until the sun bursts?

how many years do we have left before our genes break down and we become zombies?

A floor and ceiling are very much dependant on your orientation. If you're on the north pole, your ceiling would look like the floor if you were on the opposite pole. So no, there isn't a floor or ceiling

 

[DrPizza]

Before I worried about the sun expanding and swallowing the Earth, I'd worry about the Andromeda galaxy passing through our neck of the woods, tugging a bunch of comets, etc., out of the outer reaches of our solar system, to become crashed into us.

 

[fire400]

anyone else?

 

[gsellis]

It is wider in the middle.

 

[piddlefoot]

As far as we can tell by radio radar images, that, mind you are over 15 billion years old, show of a universe in its infancy, it shows its a round shape if you were to look from above its virtical axis, and an egg shape from its horizontal axis, its roundish basicly, like a warped ball spun so fast its equateral walls push out slightly flatening its apperance, we are a pancake gallaxy, the universe is interestingly a similar shape, different dimentions and physics, but interesting.
At theory, we live in an explosion, the big bang, that explosion is still in motion, thats just how big it really is, and the edges of our universe, and the matter that must be there, still expanding ,from what we can tell, ever faster, is just mindboggling, and what does it say for religions with a 5000 yearish history to teach.......

 

[Gautama2]

Originally posted by: Vaktathi
As for Ceiling and floor, think of it more as a constantly expanding sphere, dissipating at an extraordinary rate.

And this rate will continue to get smaller and smaller and the universe will continue expanding...

OR

The universe will eventually begin contracting due to gravity and another Big Bang will happen and thus the universe will begin anew.

 

[MadAd]

But what is it expanding into?

 

[Agent11]

If you want to visualize things on that kind of scale I suggest you start reading up on string theory.


http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/index.html
http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/cosmo4.html

short answer. . true vacuum. .. maybe.

 

[Rodknock]

The universe is in a stage of accelerating expansion, due to a 'repulsive gravity' characterized right now (no one really knows wtf is going on, there'll be a new theory tomorrow) as 'dark energy'. Scientists/astrophysicists/cosmologists like to call things 'dark'. It's a code word for "wtf is that?"

However, by measuring red shifting of distant galaxies, it's clear that indeed the universe is expanding, and that expansion is accelerating. If that expansion continues, it is conceivable that in x billion years, you will no longer be able to see other galaxies from earth (if earth hadn't been swallowed up by the red giant phase of the sun). Further on, galaxies themselves will begin to noticeably expand, then you will no longer see any but the closest stars from earth. In the very distant future, there will be no bodies of mass larger than elementary particles.

As far as the shape of the universe, the simplest (but possibly not complete) explanation is to picture a balloon. The universe is the *surface* of that balloon, albeit three dimensional.

The sun has been around for ~5 billion years. It will continue largely in its current state for roughly another 5 billion.

I should point out I don't have any official credentials on the subject, other than 4-5 basic college courses and a lot of internet reading Cosmology is something of a hobby of mine.

 

[icarus4586]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Before I worried about the sun expanding and swallowing the Earth, I'd worry about the Andromeda galaxy passing through our neck of the woods, tugging a bunch of comets, etc., out of the outer reaches of our solar system, to become crashed into us.

Haha! I personally have always been worried about ze polar icescapes melting and ze ozone layer leaving.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Gautama2

Originally posted by: Vaktathi
As for Ceiling and floor, think of it more as a constantly expanding sphere, dissipating at an extraordinary rate.

And this rate will continue to get smaller and smaller and the universe will continue expanding...

OR

The universe will eventually begin contracting due to gravity and another Big Bang will happen and thus the universe will begin anew.

Last time I checked, the universe expansion is accellerating...The universe will most likely expand forever leading to the big freeze.

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Before I worried about the sun expanding and swallowing the Earth, I'd worry about the Andromeda galaxy passing through our neck of the woods, tugging a bunch of comets, etc., out of the outer reaches of our solar system, to become crashed into us.

".99999999... = 0!"

lol I love your sig. I've been trying to explain to people fractions are theory and don't exist in the real world thus .99~ is literally nothing.

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: MadAd
But what is it expanding into?

yeah, good question. I want to know what the universe is expanding into as well.

 

[blackllotus]

Originally posted by: sonoma1993

Originally posted by: MadAd
But what is it expanding into?

yeah, good question. I want to know what the universe is expanding into as well.

Why does it have to expand into anything?

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: blackllotus

Originally posted by: sonoma1993

Originally posted by: MadAd
But what is it expanding into?

yeah, good question. I want to know what the universe is expanding into as well.

Why does it have to expand into anything?

To be able to.

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: sonoma1993

Originally posted by: MadAd
But what is it expanding into?

yeah, good question. I want to know what the universe is expanding into as well.

It's expanding into an infinite amount of space. I believe the universe to be a bubble. A bubble that is naturally able to define itself and nature by being finite.

 

[Biftheunderstudy]

Our concept of "something" is space-time, the universe is not expanding into more space, rather space itself is expanding. The classic balloon example is good, however you have to think of it as a 3D balloon and that it is the entire universe. Also outside the balloon does not exist or that would make another dimension or craziness.

One correction to this idea is that the universe is accelerating, ie cosmological constant from General Relativity being non-zero possibly being caused by so called dark energy.

Next, the universe may e much larger than we can see since we only know up to 15 billion years, there could be much more space that we don't know, there could be different laws in those parts, other universes etc.

The inflationary model of the universe actually describes something outside the universe, the False Vacuum. This is a pre-existing state and there can be no before it or beyond it, the universe is supposed to have condensed out of this state with some very wierd properties.

 

[BionicSniper]

My biggest concern on this has always been what lays beyond.

 

[randym431]

I thought on a discovery channel show it was said the sun had 100,000 thou or mill to go.

And also, our moon is moving away from the earth by inches each year. At some point that might toss us or change our rotation and path.

 

[superHARD]

Originally posted by: randym431
I thought on a discovery channel show it was said the sun had 100,000 thou or mill to go.

And also, our moon is moving away from the earth by inches each year. At some point that might toss us or change our rotation and path.

So the earth's orbit is getting bigger each year?

 

[twjr]

Also the days are getting longer as the rotation of the Earth slows down. And in turn there are becoming less days in a year.

I also would like to know what lies beyond, though knowing that is I did know my brain would likely implode. I guess ignorance is really bliss.