is the universe infinite or not?
90108
I don't believe so.  If there is any merit to the Big Bang theory (and there's lots of scientific evidence in support of it), then the universe has a radius of currently about 14 billion light-years, and is expanding.  \n\nThat's pretty big, but it's not infinite.
626822
The Universe is expanding, but it doesn't have a phyiscal start, middle, or an end.  It's going to expand forever. Don't think about it, because it's not something our mind can really grasp.\n\nHere's an analogy that helped me:\n\nImagine the Universe as a two dimensional place.  The Universe is the surface of a rubber ball.  There's no start, finish, or middle.  As the Universe expands, the rubber ball fills with air.  Still no start, finish, or middle.\n\nFor a long time, it was unknown whether the Universe was open or closed, meaning whether the Universe would expand forever or eventually collapse back on itself back to nothing.\n\nThe hubble telescope proved that the Universe it open and would expand forever.
400393
Hm - depends what you believe.\n\nI was taught (admittedly decades ago) that the Universe was infinite (in three dimensions) but bounded (in a fourth dimension).\n\nTo illustrate: the surface of an football is infinite (in two dimensions) but bounded (in a third dimension). A very flat insect (representing a two-dimensional life-form) can crawl in a straight line forever - therefore, from his perspective, it's infinite. It has no end.\nBut obviously we can see that the footbal is bounded in a dimension in which the insect cannot move.\n\nSo, the answer to your question would be:\n  yes, there are boundaries to the universe, but\n  no, we can't reach the "ends" because there are no ends in any sense we can understand them.
300537
There is disagreement over whether the universe is indeed finite or infinite in spatial extent and volume. Many astronomers and cosmologists believe the universe is infinite due to recent findings in NASA's WMAP project supporting a flat (therefore infinite) universe\n\nHowever, the observable universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The edge of the cosmic light horizon is 13.7 billion light years (4.19 Gpc) distant. The present distance (comoving distance) to the edge of the observable universe is larger, due to the ever increasing rate at which the universe has been expanding; it is estimated to be about 78 billion light years (7.8 × 1010 light years, or 7.4 × 1026 m). This would make the comoving volume, of the known universe, equal to 1.9 × 1033 cubic light years (assuming this region is perfectly spherical). The observable universe contains about 7 × 1022 stars, organized in about 100 billion galaxies, which themselves form clusters and superclusters. The number of galaxies may be even larger, based on the Hubble Deep Field observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope discovered galaxies such as Abell 1835 IR1916, which are over 13 billion light years from Earth.\n\nBoth popular and professional research articles in cosmology often use the term "universe" when they really mean "observable universe". This is because unobservable physical phenomena are scientifically irrelevant; that is, they cannot affect any events that we can perceive.
26073
To say universe is infinite is partly correct because nobody has ever found its corner or a boundary. But some ppl think that if u set out in one direction ina hope to get to some end/boundary one day, you might end up turning a full circle without realing so, because space has some really small and complex curves much beyond our comprehension with our present knowledge and intelligence
561415
physically the universe has no limits . but still it is expanding with enormous speed . you can go to this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space and find out whatever you need about space . good luck
415793
possibly its infinite\nbut its an argument you will find quite interesting to discuss with REAL people. im no astronomer but a thirteen year old student.i can tell you that there is the M-theory which states of parallel universes.the string theory says that there is a 12th dimension which is outside the boundary of this universe. Now we ask what is beyond that? its hard to answer. But we should never let our Heads be larger than our Hats!
525769
the universe is expanding into "nothing", is that so hard to understand? yes it is. according to the latest version of string theory, our universee is just one little speck in a whole giant "Landscape of probabilities", with as many probabilities as 10 to the power of 500, and more then 500 dimensions, so can you imagine living in a world with 500 dimensions? no! its impossible to imagine. \ntry to imagine our univers being a giant balloon constantly expanding, outside of this balloon there is nothing, void, by expanding, our universe is creating Space-time as it expands. i know some of those concepts are simply impossible to visualize, but mathematically it make perfect sense.
429398
Well, think this, the universe is infinite. Wouldn't be kind of ridiculous to think we are the only smart ones around in such an endless space?
626622
The universe is an indefinite entity.It is bounded by 'nothing' even in the strict sense of modern physics.
689891
it's called infinite.\nIt never began and it will never end it always has been and since it was thought up by man it's infinitivity can't be described because it's not there to the universe bu only to us since everything to us has a begining and an end but the universe will always be. this may sound onfusing but that's because the thought of infinity and the universe and time is only slightly comprehendable to the human minde, anything past 9 planets, 1 sun and space is just...confusing!
710329
I hate to be the philosopher but that is why the question still reamins. No one can accuratly tell what lies beyond the boundries of the universe. Is there another? Is it just white noise? I believe that space is infinite and our "universe" could well be a part of a cluster of "multiverses". i was once told that the universe is expanding in the same way that a balloon is blown up. So what lies beyond our universe? I say space, space, and more space! \n\nIf our universe began with the "big bang" then that would mean that at some point the universe had collapsed upon itself, leaving empty space.
9649
It does not end and its growing, before you try tackling such a question, answer the micro-level questions of the same kind.  The universe encompasses all that exists, and by default then, it is largely unknown.  We don't know where the universe ends, and all evidence points to it being endless and growing, therefore we make a conclusion based on a portion of the information actually needed.
533024
Is our universe in another universe?\n  \nBefore we can address that question, we must first define universe.  \n\nThe word universe denotes all space and everything (matter, energy) contained within it.  The prefix uni means one.  The root verse means word, carnate message, meaningful substance, matter.  Questions regarding our universe persist today.  Does it have a beginning and end, or does it go on forever and ever?  Is it linear or curved?  If it has limits of length or curvature, then what lies beyond the Universe?  If something lies beyond the Universe, then can’t we accurately call that the Universe?\n\nSome lay people and some scientists conceive of the universe as infinite space.  Others define the universe as finite, or limited (perhaps curved), space.  Still others incorporate the elements of matter and/or energy into their definition of the universe, as opposed to the space beyond matter and energy.\n\nGiven these concepts of our universe, some scientists conclude that the “totality of space could be infinite. Shrink an infinite space by an arbitrary amount, and it is still infinite. (Scientific American March 2005).”  \n\nAs to the notion that we live in an ever expanding universe, moving away from every other universe on the fabric of space-time, some scientists are careful to point out that “\nAndromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor, is actually moving toward us, not away. Such exceptions arise because Hubble's law describes only the average behavior of galaxies (Scientific American March 2005).”\n\nIn accordance with your supposition that our universe is in another universe, “it has been hypothesized by some scientists that the universe may be part of a system of many other universes, known as the multiverse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe).” Modern astrophysicists talk about multiple "pocket" universes that branch off from one another.  Stephen Hawking points out that parallel pocket universes can have no effect on a real observer inside a single pocket, so, according to Hawking, they are theoretical baggage that should be eliminated from cosmology, the study of the origins of the universe.\n\nSome string theories define the universe as a three-dimensional space in an invisible space having more dimensions. This is, in essence, a universe within a universe.  Our zone, a “braneworld” could periodically bounce into another parallel braneworld.  This may create what would appear as a Big Bang from one perspective or a Big Bounce of alternating expanding and contracting universe from another perspective.  Such a cataclysmic event is thought to occur 300 billion years from now, resulting in the rearranging and creation of a new universe.\n\nIs our universe inside another universe?  Well, apparently the Men in Black had it right.  Our universe seems to be inside of something else, another universe, called the multiverse.\n\nSteve\n:-D
870511
Nope, God is eternal, he has always existed. But remember, it is not possible that the Universe is infinite, that would be against scripture.\nI have really seen this answer before man, it's kind of sad.
1027618
It is quite possible for the universe to be both finite and without a boundary. No wall, but still it doesn't go on forever. Here's a way of visualizing it. Imagine that nomatter which direction you choose, you will eventually get back to your starting point if you go far enough in a 'straight' line. Impossible? Free your mind. It happens in two dimensions on the surface of a sphere. While it currently looks like the universe really is infinite, such three dimensional spheres were models used for finite universes until the data showed they are probably wrong.
313515
The universe and space aren't the same thing. The universe was CREATED in space. Before the creation of the universe, it was just space. The universe now occupies space, and yes the universe is not infinite and according to scientists, the Big Crunch theory is the end of the our universe. However, space will still exist because the universe and space aren't the same thing.