What is the edge of the universe like? Is it a brick wall or
what? Will we be able to go past our universe someday?
Too bad it's not a brick wall or something like that. In reality there is
no "edge" of the universe so we can't go past it. There are two cases
depending on the mass of the universe. One is that the universe will
expand forever. This means that
the universe is infinite in size and therefore doesn't have an end. The
second case is that the universe will end in a Big Crunch. In this case the
universe is finite in size because of gravity.
Einstein first theorized that space is bent by gravity in his theory of
relativity. If there is enough mass in the universe then space will be
bent so much that it will bend back on itself. It's like if you bend a
wire back on itself (until the ends touch), you get a circle.
So, the universe can be finite in size but have no edge--similar to the
Earth. The Earth has a finite surface area but doesn't have an edge that
you could fall off (lucky for Columbus...)
Submitted by Lance (age 13, Utah, USA)
Submitted by Brent (age 9, Tenessee, USA)
Submitted by Alyssa (age 12, California, USA)
(August 21, 1997)
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Learn about Earth and space science, and have fun while doing it! The
games section of our
online store includes a
climate change card game and the
Traveling Nitrogen game!
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