Closed Universe?

[JeremiahTheGreat]

This has been bugging me for a while (since i was a kid), but after playing all those old computer games where going off the screen only made your plane appear on the other side (i.e you have a plane, keep going left beyond the screen and you end up on the right of the screen) and have been thinking, can the universe be the same?

I know there is evidence (although sometime conflicting) that the universe is expanding, but being at the "edge" of the universe is something pretty hard to fathom. Could it be possible that the "edge" of the universe could actually be anypoint in the universe? If so how?

*head explodes*

 

[AndyCunningham]

You need to read some of Stephen Hawkings books, they have very good explanations of all this stuff. Thanks to him for all this stuff I'm about to write

Think of the surface of earth for a minute - it is a 2 dimensional surface curved through 3 dimensions. It is finite in size, yet there is no edge. If you think of the universe in similar terms, then you can get an idea of why it has no edge. A straight path around the earth will lead back to your starting position, and it is thought that a similar thing would happen on a 'straight' path through the universe.

The only thing to remember for the earth surface example is that it is 2 dimensional while curved through 3 dimensions. The universe has 3 spatial dimensions which are themselves curved, though they are not curved because there is another dimension which we can't see. With the earth example, you might think of digging through the earth to get to the other side - this is because you are thinking of a 3D world, when really you should be thinking of the surface being a 2D sphere.

 

[bigshooter]

DOes anyone have some Advil?

 

[jbod]

I take the common sense approach: from the small atom to the large galaxy it seems that everything is orbiting something. Electrons orbiting a nucleus, the planets of our solar system orbiting the sun, the solar system orbiting the center of our galaxy, the galaxy orbiting something in the universe. Dare I say it's a law? Why would it not be anything different "at the edge"? I agree with you all. It's truly amazing if you try to fathom it.

 

[CSFM]

And I thought the Earth was flat... god... where have I been.

 

[Cogman]

I kindof think that the universe is open. you just got to think of it this way, if you cut somthing perfectly in half and cut the half of that in half. you can go on for eternaty and you will never have nothing. You will always have a small trace of that thing. Well if you take the sun. create a second one. Create 2 more, And continue on forever Will you ever run out of room to put it?