Our current understanding of the big bang is not that it spread out from one place, it happened everywhere all at once. If the universe is infinite, it started from zero volume and infinite density then immediately became infinite in volume and finite in density. The density of matter/energy is what is finite, not the amount of matter/energy, that is infinite (if the universe is infinite). Then there was a period of rapid inflation, then is settled down to the inflation we see today.
Infinite or finite, the universe is not spreading out into anything, the distances between points are simply increasing.
It’s so obvious, to me, to think of the universe as occurring 'in a box’and that expansion happening like someone is inflating a balloon inside it - so we’re running out of room as such.
Take away the box and my brain just melts. I’m not very familiar with this stuff, however
The important thing in the balloon analogy isn’t what the balloon is expanding into, it’s just that every point on the balloon is drifting away from every other point.
One thing to consider, though, is that space may not even be a real physical thing. Maybe location is just a property of things, like mass or electrical charge. It could just be an inherent value that adjusts and influences other things according to the laws of physics. Maybe it’s less that “space is expanding” and just that “the location property of everything is constantly diverging.” There’s no need to worry about what anything is expanding into because our conception of space may just be a mental construct.
edit on a 2nd read it strikes me that determining whether space is expanding vs the location property of everything is diverging is a relatively impossible exercise (key word, there).
A lot like the non-trivial thought experiments, ‘prove you’re in/not in a simulation’
Our current understanding of the big bang is not that it spread out from one place, it happened everywhere all at once. If the universe is infinite, it started from zero volume and infinite density then immediately became infinite in volume and finite in density. The density of matter/energy is what is finite, not the amount of matter/energy, that is infinite (if the universe is infinite). Then there was a period of rapid inflation, then is settled down to the inflation we see today.
Infinite or finite, the universe is not spreading out into anything, the distances between points are simply increasing.
This is not true. It started with apparently infinite volume. This is the confusing nature of infinities.
It’s so obvious, to me, to think of the universe as occurring 'in a box’and that expansion happening like someone is inflating a balloon inside it - so we’re running out of room as such.
Take away the box and my brain just melts. I’m not very familiar with this stuff, however
The important thing in the balloon analogy isn’t what the balloon is expanding into, it’s just that every point on the balloon is drifting away from every other point.
One thing to consider, though, is that space may not even be a real physical thing. Maybe location is just a property of things, like mass or electrical charge. It could just be an inherent value that adjusts and influences other things according to the laws of physics. Maybe it’s less that “space is expanding” and just that “the location property of everything is constantly diverging.” There’s no need to worry about what anything is expanding into because our conception of space may just be a mental construct.
…absolutely wild
edit on a 2nd read it strikes me that determining whether space is expanding vs the location property of everything is diverging is a relatively impossible exercise (key word, there).
A lot like the non-trivial thought experiments, ‘prove you’re in/not in a simulation’