• Question: if the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

    Asked by bubblesss to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Viv Lyons

      Viv Lyons answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      This is a great question and just like many of the best questions: nobody knows the answer yet.
      There are some theories depending on what the universe actually is (another unknown answer). If the universe is everything, including all matter, energy, time and space and there is nothing else then maybe it is expanding into a bigger version of itself. If there is space outside of our observable universe, maybe the space is infinite.
      There may be other ways of looking at this but I have to go now because I don’t know about you but my brain is about to explode.

    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Very good question, I think Viv makes some good points (especially about our brains exploding). I always like to remind myself that while we know so much about the world and the universe, we have no idea how much we don’t know. Some theories state that something called dark energy is involved in causing the universe to expand.

      Have a read what NASA says about ‘dark energy’

      http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/

    • Photo: Laura Waters

      Laura Waters answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      I agree, we just don’t know!

    • Photo: Lena Ciric

      Lena Ciric answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Pondering this question always makes my brain go weird. I can’t help but imagine it’s like at the end of Men in Black… 🙂

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