Why cant we go past the edge of the universe?

Question

I read that the universe is curved and therefore you cannot reach the edge, i dont understand that statement because there are a lot of things that are curved that you can reach the edge of from inside....image being inside a giant ball, you can reach the edge and go outside if you wanted to. Then I heard that the universe is forever expanding and so that would also stop you but what if you approached the edge at a faster rate than it was expanding then wouldnt you be able then to reach it....the big question is, what is beyond the edge?

Answer 1

At the moment we don't even know if there is an edge to the universe, so far we have not been able to observe any sign that there is any sort of limit..

Answer 2

When they say it's "curved," that's a mathematical term that doesn't exactly mean the same thing as "curved" in normal speech. What it really means is that space is "non-Euclidean," which means that the normal rules of geometry (such as the angles of a triangle adding to 180°, and a circle's circumference-to-radius ratio equaling π) are not precisely true over cosmic distances. Mathemeticians call that property "curved space" because it's similar to what happens if you draw triangles and circles on a curved surface (like a ball) instead of on a flat piece of paper.



We don't actually KNOW whether the universe is curved in this way. IF it is, then one POSSIBLE mode of curvature would have the effect that if you extend a perfectly straight line out away from yourself, then it would come back around and hit you in the back of the head. That kind of curvature would imply that there's no "edge" to the universe, because in every direction you go, you'll only end up back at your starting point. Although we're still looking, there is currently no evidence that the universe is curved in this way.



Many cosmologists think that the universe probably extends infinitely in all directions. If that's the case, then the reason you can't reach the edge is that there isn't one.



There is often a confusion between "the universe" and "the observable universe." We know how big the "observable universe" is. It's a ball about 93 billion light years in diameter, and expanding. It contains everything we can see. We can't reach the edge of that ball because it's moving away from us at faster than lightspeed, a speed we can't ever reach according to the theory of relativity. Many cosmologists suspect there is probably a lot more stuff outside of the observable universe, but we'll never see it because its expanding away from us so fast that any light it may be emitting can't ever reach us.

Answer 3

Actually, there really is no "edge" of the universe so we can't go past it. There are two cases where that could happen. One is that the universe will expand forever. This means that the universe is infinite in size so it doesn't have an end. It just goes on and on and on. The second case is that the universe will end in a Big Crunch. In this case the universe is finite in size because of gravity. So if it's finite in size, why isn't there an edge we can go to? That's because of a weird little thing gravity does to space--it curves it! Einstein first came up with the idea of gravity curving space. That's how the Earth orbits the sun. It wants to go straight but the Sun curves the space around it so the Earth can't go flying off. There is so much matter in the universe that space is bent back on itself! It's sort of like how you can bend a wire until its ends touch, you come up with a circle. You can walk around a circle forever without coming to an edge. So, the universe can be finite but have no edge. It's similar to the Earth. The Earth has a finite surface area but it doesn't have an edge that you can fall off (lucky for Columbus...)



Hope this answers your interesting question.

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Answer 4

The most common theory is that of teh Expanding Universe. A Curved Universe would tend to imply a steady-state, non-changing Universe -- which goes against all of the observations we have seen up to this point. In fact, the "steady state" Universe has been proven to be impossible in 2003. [You can forget about the curved space stuff]



But remember, there are TWO parts to the Universe -- MATTER, and NOTHINGNESS.



MATTER is all the stuff IN the Universe -- stars and dust and galaxies and planets and moons and . . . . Nothingness is what is BETWEEN those "things". We call it "space". The combination of all the matter AND all the space between it is what we call ":OUTER SPACE"



Now here is a question for you: Where does a cloud "end"? What defines the edge of a cloud? it is CLEAR that clouds have edges (you can see them) but if you have ever been in an airplane you know that you can never FEEL the edge of a cloud. Therefore, the cloud "ends" when there is no more condensed water vapor present.



And so it is with the Universe. The "end of the Universe" is the point at which no more MATTER is present. If the Big Bang is treu, the matter is flying outwards, but at some point there is no more matter present, JUST NOTHINGNESS.





This nothingness is what the Universe is "expanding into". So, beyond the "edge of the Universe" is just more nothingness -- more space. Just like a clod, there is no hard "edge" or barrier at the End of the Universe. You just eventually reach a point where no more matter exists (except you).

Answer 5

There are lot of things curved but universe is largely expanding at a vary faster rate so we cannot reach the edge,,,moreover the point of approaching it at a faster rate is not good because we on earth do not have much fuel to fill in a rocket and reach there,,,,,,some say there is 11dimension universe after this universe but this idea is not approved yet

Answer 6

Your question is based upon the premise that there is a limit to the size of the

Universe, and therefore that it has extremity limits (or edges). That premise is

incorrect to begin with. At this time there has never been any discovery of a

boundary for the Universe. The limits that the scientific community has encountered

have to do with the performance characteristics of specific observational equipment.

Optical telescopes of the highest caliber seem to crap out in usefulness at distances

around 13.5 billion Light Years. Radio telescopes seem to be able to detect objects

out at distances about twice that far in all directions. Your quandary about accepting

or rejecting the concept of an infinite Universe affects all humans who contemplate the heavens.

Answer 7

look theres no so-called EDGE of the universe because its oval that u know

let me explain

a circle has no side

and is it possible to reach the edge of the earth?

if u try 2 find the egde u evetually rotate around in the circle

thats what the theory in 'PARALLEL WORLD' by KAKU but i dont believe thats true and we even didnt ever know where is the edge so past it is out of question!

ANOTHER thing is that:-

u say that universe is expanding---- but who holds this expanding universe? it expand because theres enough space outside the universe which has sufficient space to accomodate our expanding universe and this will go on and on...

Answer 8

This makes no sense as the universe has no edge.

Answer 9

Because it's moving away from us faster than the speed of light.

Answer 10

another quark