today we talked about the possibility of an infinite universe @ T,R 9:50am class.
my tentative response was perlmutter and schmidt's hypothesis: the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
is the universe "infinite?" not in time. U has a beginning, it's ± 13.7 billions years old.
do you mean infinite in the amount of matter? if U has "Z" particles they then each particle can be counted (provided one has enough time to do it).
next, infinite spatially?
if it keeps expanding you would think that it keeps reaching "more of" something.
space has to be defined as a distance between 2 points. without points "to breach" there is no space.
*but this widening of U is measured in time.
*if U reaches X a limit "L" then it stops expanding. there is always a ∆L of expansion.
*but then U is the container of space, which is... space! that is to say, U is being defined as the expanding of space then it's the expanding of itself, which is kind of circular.
if U has a L, then presumably, U cannot be infinite. some hypotheses point in this direction (even a quadrillion, 1015 years, is a small infinitesimal of "evermore").
4 comments:
If the famous theory called “Big Bang” created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady is correct then I would think the universe it’s not infinite, because according to the studies already made the universe is expanding, which this means the universe was created by a possible explosion (Big Bang) as a result this contains an amount of mass, so we can conclude that the universe is not infinite.
“I’m so tired... I was up all night trying to round off infinity.”
― Steven Wright
"Is the universe infinite?" First I look at the actual definitions. Infinite: immeasurably or inconceivably great or extensive. But then when you look at the definition of conceivable: capable of being conceived : imaginable- then I have to think that maybe it is our brains as humans that are the restriction. That WE are unable to conceive or imagine the limits of the Universe vs the Universe actually being infinite. As an example, psychologist William James once argued that we use a small part of our mental resources (where the 10% myth is thought to have started) but through research and ever advancing technology it has been found that we actually use all parts of our brains, most of which are active all of the time.
So it is possible that we just aren't able to grasp the concept of where the limits of the Universe lie and therefore find calling it infinite an easier description.
so it is possible that we just aren't able to grasp the concept of where the limits of the Universe lie and therefore find calling it infinite an easier description.
yours is an interesting point charlotte.
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