Earths Absolute Velocity

[Little Bang]

Lind, I guess your saying that the universe has no shape?

[chatlack]

Space is everywhere, we know and we dont know.

[Tormod]

Space is everywhere, we know and we dont know.

 

Come on, this is a science forum, not a "clouded comments chalkboard". ;)

 

Space has several semantic meanings. But when we talk about space in a cosmological sense we mean the place that is our universe, and everything it contains. "Space" is the void in which everything in our universe exists.

 

What we don't know is what the fabric of space is made of. That may be something we can find out eventually. Nor can we know for sure how big it is, whether it is infinite or not, nor what shape it has. We cannot know what lies outside our universe, except that if it is not a part of our universe, then it is not "space".

 

I am not claiming that this is the only answer but please refrain from hit-and-run comments like the one I am replying to.

[infamous]

The universe is not a sphere.

That may be true Linda but, how is this theoritical position proven. Understand, I'm not disputing the notion but, what evidence do we have that that statement can be viewed as fact.

[Tormod]

That may be true Linda but, how is this theoritical position proven. Understand, I'm not disputing the notion but, what evidence do we have that that statement can be viewed as fact.

 

Turn it around, infy - what evidence do we have for a spherical universe?

 

What would cause the universe to be spherical?

[infamous]

Turn it around, infy - what evidence do we have for a spherical universe?

 

What would cause the universe to be spherical?

I'm not insisting that it is spherical, Linda's statement suggested that we have evidence that for this. I just would like to know what that evidence is.

[Tormod]

I'm not insisting that it is spherical, Linda's statement suggested that we have evidence that for this. I just would like to know what that evidence is.

 

Look at it this way - the universe is no more likely to be a sphere than it is saddle-shaped.

[C1ay]

I'm not insisting that it is spherical, Linda's statement suggested that we have evidence that for this. I just would like to know what that evidence is.

Actually, Linda said it is not spherical. I do recall this story on the echo of the CMB radiation that claims it is a sphere.

[infamous]

Look at it this way - the universe is no more likely to be a sphere than it is saddle-shaped.

Then Linda's answer should have been, "We just don't know what shape it has". Right?

[infamous]

Actually, Linda said it is not spherical. I do recall this story on the echo of the CMB radiation that claims it is a sphere.

Could you give me a link to this C1ay?

[C1ay]

Could you give me a link to this C1ay?

The word 'story' in my post is a link to the story....

[lindagarrette]

That may be true Linda but, how is this theoritical position proven. Understand, I'm not disputing the notion but, what evidence do we have that that statement can be viewed as fact.

You are confusing theory with proof. Theories are the best accepted explanation given the current evidence. If another theory comes along that disproves the current one, then it becomes the accepted theory. To the best of my knowledge there is no evidence that the universe is sperical. So that is the current theory.

[infamous]

You are confusing theory with proof. Theories are the best accepted explanation given the current evidence. If another theory comes along that disproves the current one, then it becomes the accepted theory. To the best of my knowledge there is no evidence that the universe is sperical. So that is the current theory.

Linda you are the one that made the statement "The universe is not a sphere ". I just wanted to know how you came to this conclusion???

[lindagarrette]

Linda you are the one that made the statement "The universe is not a sphere ". I just wanted to know how you came to this conclusion???

I read a lot of literature on theoretical physics.

[Tormod]

Actually, Linda said it is not spherical. I do recall this story on the echo of the CMB radiation that claims it is a sphere.

 

Not sure about your reading there, C1ay. To me that story is about the observable universe, which is a sphere.

 

They are in fact not sure what the shape of the universe is beyond what we can see:

 

"We don't think this is due to foreground contamination," Dr Tegmark said. "It could be telling us something about the shape of space on the largest scales. We did not expect this and we cannot yet explain it."

 

Just my intepretation of it, of course. I think this is very interesting stuff, though. ;)

[C1ay]

I didn't say the story was right or wrong, only what it claimed. IMO, we don't know and never will. The edge of the universe as we know it will always lie beyond our range of view.

[chatlack]

=) I say, what about the space that "space" grow into???