Where does everyone stand on the theories of the universe?
Myself, I am undecided. Lots of nice ideas such as string theory and relativity....space time 'threads'.
So the universe 'time, space and gravity' brief definition. Where do you stand on it?
I think the universe is like one great big ball we're inside and if something could literally fly around it it would not recognize it's starting point because so much time would have past and it would look totally different.
I think the universe is like one great big ball we're inside and if something could literally fly around it it would not recognize it's starting point because so much time would have past and it would look totally different.
You're thinking universe as in collection of galaxies and literally 'area/space'?
The universe is ever growing, the starting point would be different, you're correct but getting back there would be impossible I think.
placeholder for my definition when I have no headache
Basic string theory;
String theory is an incomplete mathematical approach to theoretical physics, whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point particles that form the basis for the standard model of particle physics. By replacing the point-like particles with strings, an apparently consistent quantum theory of gravity emerges, which has not been achievable under quantum field theory. Usually, the term string theory includes a group of related superstring theories and a few related frameworks such as M-theory, which seeks to unite them all.
String theorists have not yet completely described these theories, or determined if or how these theories relate to the physical universe. The elegance and flexibility of the approach, however, and a number of qualitative similarities with more traditional physical models, have led many physicists to suspect that such a connection is possible. In particular, string theory may be a way to "unify" the known natural forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear) by describing them with the same set of equations, as described in the theory of everything. On the other hand, the models have been criticized for their inability, thus far, to provide any experimentally testable predictions.
Work on string theory is made difficult by the very complex mathematics involved, and the large number of forms that the theories can take depending on the arrangement of space and energy. Thus far, string theory strongly suggests the existence of ten or eleven (in M-theory)[1] spacetime dimensions, as opposed to the usual four (three spatial and one temporal) used in relativity theory; however, the theory can describe universes with four effective (observable) spacetime dimensions by a variety of methods.[2] The theories also appear to describe higher-dimensional objects than strings, called branes. Certain types of string theory have also been shown to be equivalent to certain types of more traditional gauge theory, and it is hoped that research in this direction will lead to new insights on quantum chromodynamics, the fundamental theory of the strong nuclear force.
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Basically particles are little threads vibrating and there is up to 12 dimensions. Me Thinks that's basic definition...
God
God
So, your view is they were created by that of a higher power and they're literally un-explainable and just there and we should trust the lords greater judgement?
Do we have more religious or atheists here?
Uh.. I really don't know..
God made it? well Earth.. dunno about the universe..
um guys, the flying spaghetti monster created it...
um guys, the flying spaghetti monster created it...
PASTARFARIONIST ALERT.
HARI KRISHNAS SENT TO SECTOR 2.
The universe is ever growing, the starting point would be different, you're correct but getting back there would be impossible I think.
I think we're just guessing when we say we know it's growing. Imagine walking through a hallway that had artwork hanging on the left side of the wall. The hallway has a very gradual curvature to it, so gradual that you can't even tell it's there and when you are far enough away the artwork changes to a different image. If the curvature is gradual enough you might keep walking in a huge circle but still think your walking in a straight line...thus thinking the hallway was literally endless or at least to the best of your perception.
Sorry I couldn't give a better example 
I like this line of questioning though.
God
God made it?
-_-
Big bang/Big crunch theories settle it for me, for now at least. I'm sure I'll look into it a bit more. One thing's certain, it was no "god".
we know that the galaxies are moving apart from each other due to the red-shift phenomenon. Basically you know how when a police car goes past you the sound becomes a lower pitch? This is because the peaks in the wave are being created at a greater distance from each other than if the source wasn't moving
this also happens with electromagnetic waves (light is in there) at high enough speeds. This causes all of the frequencies to be reduced. now this wouldn't be noticable if it wasn't for emmision specra. Put simply, atoms get in the way and redirect certain frequencies of light. Now we know what the spectra should look like, since all stars are composed of pretty much the same thing, so we can measure how fast something is traveling away by looking at how far the emmision spectra pattern has moved to the red end of the spectrum.
Now, since we are getting red shift and not blue shift, that tells us that the galaxies are moving away from each other, Since if there was nothing pulling them outward they'd all converge together (due to gravitational pull), that suggests that the universe is expanding, much like if you drew dots on an deflated balloon and then inflated it, the dots would diverge.
and that concludes your physics lesson for the day. Luckily I have a mind-numbing gif animation just below this text so you can revert your brain to forum mode.
Nice, thanks for that. You a follower of the Big Crunch co-theory? i.e. When universe expands to brink of gravitational pull on offer the said universe will collapse.
But collapse to what? Bald atoms?
I don't believe the universe is expanding, or infinite for that matter.
For that to be possible, there must be an infinite amount of chances for life to develope on different plants, with an infinite amount of chances for them to obtain the technology or availability to travel the universe, giving them an infinite amount of chances to come to earth, with an infinite amount of chances we'd know about it. Hasn't happened, I can't believe it.
I don't know what to believe really; you can't really have something floating in nothing can you? That said, who's to say the universe isn't located in something even bigger then it? So on and so forth indefinatly.
God created the universe out of nothing... sound fimiliar?
The Catholic Church also officially supports the Big Bang theory because it agrees with their theological position that time itself began at creation.
*Astrophysicist steps in*
Sorry guys, but the Big Crunch is probably not going to happen, if recent observations are anything to go by. Not only is the Universe expanding, that expansion is accelerating. So, it would seem the Universe is going to go on expanding forever. Unfortunately that's not actually any better than a Big Crunch though, because thanks to the second law of thermodynamics, eventually the Universe will reach a point of "heat death" and run out of usable energy.
@Rawrmander: I can assure you it is expanding. D4rk already explained about redshift, which we've seen in the light from distant galaxies. Plus there's the Cosmic Microwave Background. Whether it's infinite or not, that's an open question.
As for string theory: it would be fantastic, if only they could actually figure out some way of testing it.
Personally I'm slightly inclined towards the theory of parallel universes, since it neatly gets around loads of problems in physics. Unfortunately, it does have the same problem as string theory- there's currently no way to check if it's right or not.
God
So, your view is they were created by that of a higher power and they're literally un-explainable and just there and we should trust the lords greater judgement?
Do we have more religious or atheists here?
Its my faith and thats as simple as it gets
i belive in god and thats what i belive
space is something.
on earth it contains lots of elements and compounds as well as sub-atomic particles.
outside of the earth's atmosphere, there's neutrinos and leptons floating about out there in a great number along with other elements/compounds (just no where near as many as in air).
beyond the end of the universe, there IS nothing. but, since it's theoretically impossible to reach the end of the universe, you're left with the incomprehensible concept of nothingness. the same nothingness that surrounded the singularity that the universe expanded from.
0-dimensional singularity:
gravitational singularity
Aye, one look at my project for university (about cosmic dust) will show you space is not empty at all.
I'm not sure the Universe can even be described as having an "end" or an "outside", since that would imply that spatial dimensions somehow extend beyond the Universe.
Do we have more religious or atheists here?
Latter, but when people say "Atheist" it makes it sound like a separate group. I don't believe, that simple.
Religion ---> O
O <----- Me
space is something.
on earth it contains lots of elements and compounds as well as sub-atomic particles.
outside of the earth's atmosphere, there's neutrinos and leptons floating about out there in a great number along with other elements/compounds (just no where near as many as in air).
beyond the end of the universe, there IS nothing. but, since it's theoretically impossible to reach the end of the universe, you're left with the incomprehensible concept of nothingness. the same nothingness that surrounded the singularity that the universe expanded from.
0-dimensional singularity:
gravitational singularity
Aye, one look at my project for university (about cosmic dust) will show you space is not empty at all.
I'm not sure the Universe can even be described as having an "end" or an "outside", since that would imply that spatial dimensions somehow extend beyond the Universe.
but that's it, there isn't. (I'm crap at putting this stuff into words)
But the universe is expanding, so there must be a point where the universe ceases.
Whenever I explain I use my balloon concept again, if we imagine that we are 2-dimensional beings living on the surface of the balloon. now we aren't aware of the world outside (or inside the balloon) but when it inflates point A and point B that were previously 10mm apart are now 20mm apart.
now if we were to consider that as 3-dimensional beings we cant 'look-up' to the next dimension that our universe is expanding into.
let me know if that made any sense