Ok, so lets say the universe is always expanding and it will continue to do throughout time. Let's say the universe is a bubble that continues to grow and grow and doesn't stop growing. What if we find a way to travel faster than the universe is expanding and reach from wherever we are to the edge of this "bubble"? Will we leave the bubble entirely, if so what might we see? Will we appear at the opposite ending of the bubble? Are there any theories that postulate if such an instance did occur?
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The basic model of physics is that there is no "beyond" the universe. The universe is everything there is, and cannot be escaped. The "expansion" of space is basically expanding space between galaxies, not a massive expansion going outside them. Although the human mind tends to think of some kind of great void "outside" the universe, it simply doesn't exist.
In any case, travelling faster than the expansion would require a local violation of the lightspeed limit, which is impossible. But even if you could do it, you'd simply keep travelling forever. You'd never "leave" the universe.
In any case, travelling faster than the expansion would require a local violation of the lightspeed limit, which is impossible. But even if you could do it, you'd simply keep travelling forever. You'd never "leave" the universe.
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There are many hypotheses on this subject, perhaps the most widely accepted being Alan Guth's inflationary universe. The observable universe is a bubble of observation with us at it centre. Go instantly to the furthest edge we can see, and it will look much the same, a bubble of observation with the as yet unformed Milky Way at its edge. According to inflationary theory, this might continue to be the case for a universe between 10^23 and 10^120 times greater than the observable universe. And this extended universe might be only one in a multiverse; like a super bubble universe in a infinite foam of other super bubbles universes. We simply don't know, but it's truly amazing that we can hold such ideas of infinity in our finite mind.
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All we can do is theorize to what may be out there. It probably won't be in our lifetime that we have the technology to get us that far.
I would imagine that it would just be a vast darkness/nothingness, kind of like what happens when you fall out of the map in Modern Warfare 2.
I would imagine that it would just be a vast darkness/nothingness, kind of like what happens when you fall out of the map in Modern Warfare 2.
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There is no "beyond the universe."
The universe is unbounded.
No center. No edges. No 'boundaries' of any kind.
The universe is unbounded.
No center. No edges. No 'boundaries' of any kind.
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Nothing