• Question: Is there any end to the universe?

    Asked by Kornelija to Chris, Susan, Rob, Rebecca, Josh on 23 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by jamie, Momina.
    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      No (it’s not clear how that would work!), but it might nonetheless have a finite volume.

      According to general relativity, space can be curved. If the universe were positively curved, it would behave like the surface of a sphere, e.g. the Earth – if you travelled far enough, you would end up back where you started.

      Our best current measurements indicate that the curvature of the universe is exactly zero, but there is some experimental error on these numbers, so it could be very slightly positively (or negatively) curved. A flat or negatively curved universe should go on forever, but a positively curved universe eventually folds back on itself. So there is still a possibility that the universe is like that, but the curvature would be very slight, which implies that even if it is finite it is very very very big.

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