[material breach]

(Original post by endeavour)
There is though, such a thing as "big infinity".

which is what?

[Zarathustra]

(Original post by technik)
i mean in a rational sense. where you cant have something that never ends. if it doesnt end it isnt a tangible "thing"

In a rational sense? Does that mean that your problem really is not whether it is possible for something to infinite, but whether it is possible for rational beings to comprehend infinity?

I wouldn't say that just because something "doesn't end" it necessarily follows that it "isn't a tangible thing". If something existed for an infinite amount of time, that wouldn't prevent it from having a solid, tangible physical existence (like the universe, for example). I don't think that's even the case for things that are infinite in the spatial sense.
It's tricky to imagine something entirely infinitely extended, but take the example of a road that just went on....and on...and on....and on - an infinitely long road, if you will. Would it's length stop you from being able to walk on it? You couldn't go the whole way along, for obvious reasons, but it'd be a tangible road.

ZarathustraX

[Harv616]

(Original post by Zarathustra)
In a rational sense? Does that mean that your problem really is not whether it is possible for something to infinite, but whether it is possible for rational beings to comprehend infinity?

I wouldn't say that just because something "doesn't end" it necessarily follows that it "isn't a tangible thing". If something existed for an infinite amount of time, that wouldn't prevent it from having a solid, tangible physical existence (like the universe, for example). I don't think that's even the case for things that are infinite in the spatial sense.
It's tricky to imagine something entirely infinitely extended, but take the example of a road that just went on....and on...and on....and on - an infinitely long road, if you will. Would it's length stop you from being able to walk on it? You couldn't go the whole way along, for obvious reasons, but it'd be a tangible road.

ZarathustraX

ermmmmmmmmm what about a circle?

if a road just keeps going round and round and round, then it would be infinite i think? lol

[Zarathustra]

(Original post by BhArJ)
if a road just keeps going round and round and round, then it would be infinite i think?

Yeah, and it'd still be "tangible", too. - That was my point lol (just took me a few too many lines to make it!)

ZarathustraX

[Harv616]

(Original post by Zarathustra)
Yeah, and it'd still be "tangible", too. - That was my point lol

ZarathustraX

yeh but i put it in dumb people words

[john !!]

(Original post by Zarathustra)
if the universe was already infinite

It is not. It is about 160bn light years in diameter.

(Original post by Zarathustra)
If you "added another universe" in such a way that really all you had was two universes next to each other, then the universe wouldn't have doubled in size anyway.

Well you don't add it and have a division, you add it so that the universe has doube the volume but importantly double the mass/energy.

[Zarathustra]

(Original post by mik1a)
It is not. It is about 160bn light years in diameter.

In which case, if you doubled it it would get bigger. Even if we didn't notice. Right?

Has anyone noticed that the "similar threads" box at the end of this lists 'bigger boobs' as number one...lmao. Maybe we should skip over and tell Alice they'd get twice as big if she could only help us work out how to double the size of the universe...


ZarathustraX

[Douglas]

(Original post by Mr White)
If the universe and everything in it doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size, would it have actually changed at all?

Of course it wouldn't have. Or would it?

Some physicists say that the universe is infinite, others say it's a sphere (wraps around itself). If it's infinite, seems like it would not be noticable if you doubled the size.
If it's a sphere, and the size of the sphere is constant, and the matter inside the sphere is doubled, then the gravitational forces would change.

[blue_smartie]

Think, what if you doubled infinity? If infinity is completeness, wouldnt double infinity be nothing? would the universe indeed exist?

[Zarathustra]

(Original post by blue_smartie)
Think, what if you doubled infinity? If infinity is completeness, wouldnt double infinity be nothing? would the universe indeed exist?

Why on earth would double infinity be nothing?!

If it was infinite, it just couldn't get any bigger, end of. Attempting to add to it certainly wouldn't make it disappear though, would it...?

ZarathustraX

[blue_smartie]

my point. If infinate could not get any bigger, would it consume itself during expansion, similar to a reverse effect of the big bang? --presuming the theory is correct

[john !!]

there is no reason to make me think that twice what is infinitely big is nothing. for a start, you still have what is infinitely big, and then one more.

[blue_smartie]

the universe cannot expand any more. My point is that if you were to cram another space the same size as the universe into the current one, (in effect compressing it) wouldnt the universal fabric crumple, therefore swallowing itself and eventually creating what i can only describe as a 'vortex' (im not a space technician, but read along my lines hear) and then leave. nothing

[Harv616]

(Original post by blue_smartie)
the universe cannot expand any more. My point is that if you were to cram another space the same size as the universe into the current one, (in effect compressing it) wouldnt the universal fabric crumple, therefore swallowing itself and eventually creating what i can only describe as a 'vortex' (im not a space technician, but read along my lines hear) and then leave. nothing

hmmmmm but what if there is no universe?

[blue_smartie]

There is no spoon.

[Harv616]

(Original post by blue_smartie)
There is no spoon.

but seriously, what if the univers is just a tiny thing in a even bigger thing and thats a tiny thing in a even bigger thingy?

[john !!]

(Original post by blue_smartie)
the universe cannot expand any more. My point is that if you were to cram another space the same size as the universe into the current one, (in effect compressing it) wouldnt the universal fabric crumple, therefore swallowing itself and eventually creating what i can only describe as a 'vortex' (im not a space technician, but read along my lines hear) and then leave. nothing

The universe is expanding right now.
If you doubled the mass/energy of the current universe without increasing the volume, well that is not what is being asked. The thing to be doubled here is size.

I'm not sure what you mean by universe fabric, but I doubt it would crumple. It would probably lead to an even faster exapansion of the universe.

[material breach]

(Original post by Douglas)
Some physicists say that the universe is infinite, others say it's a sphere (wraps around itself). If it's infinite, seems like it would not be noticable if you doubled the size.
If it's a sphere, and the size of the sphere is constant, and the matter inside the sphere is doubled, then the gravitational forces would change.

Who says the universe is infinite?

[Douglas]

(Original post by Speciez99)
Who says the universe is infinite?

Astronomy professor Margaret Geller of Harvard University for one.

[DivideByZero]

What if a plane suddenly doubled in velocity, and simultaneously this change in velocity was also added to the Earth.

Would the plane be moving any faster?