Is space never ending?

[spaced]

Has space got an ending, or is it a continuos space?? Freaky isnt it!

[fo3nix]

No-one really knows, But the popular big bang theory supports the idea of an ending.

Think about it: once, the universe was very small. Then some explosion occured, and space rapidly expanded (we believe it's still doing this); thus, at some point, there must be "an edge"... but at the speed it's expanding (even now), the edge won't stay there for long.

[burnhal]

but if it does have an edge.............. whats outside it?

[qapmoc]

The universe might be expanding, but space is not the same thing, space is just, hmmm... space, that is an empty void with nothing in it.
Therefore logically something which is nothing can and probably does continue as far as you can imagine it, or at least until you get bored of thinking of nothing.

[Clanad]

The subject has been discussed many times here and is still difficult to conceive. A basic tenet though, is to use the term "observable universe" when discussing your question. If limited to that term(the definition is to lengthy to present here) alone, then we find the latest theory suggests the "universe" is exapanding and is expanding at an accelerating pace. Having said that, it does not have an "edge"... it is not expanding "into" something. Simply put, there is nothing for it to expand into since the universe carries with it its own definition of space. The old, worn, adage of an inflating balloon is still, probably, the easiest analogy to understand. The Big Bang is likened to a balloon in that, shortly after the intial creation (10-^44 seconds) the substance of creation began an expansion with all the potential pieces and parts we observe today being carried out in all directions like the balloon. An insect scrambling along on the surface of this balloon never gets "off" the balloon and if the insect were able to travel for a near infinity of time, would return to its place of beginning. Very "freaky" indeed. In fact the very latest experiments indicate the earliest moments of the creation event are now found to have behaved like a fluid, rather than a gas as previously thought...

[bernardo]

fo3nix is not quite right. It does not have to have an edge. If the universe is the 3-dimensional surface of a 4-dimensional hypersphere (with a further 7 dimensions which are very small) then it is finite and unbounded, or finite but unbounded if you prefer. In other words, it has a limited size but no edges or corners.

[fantastical]

An analogy that I heard (from a viable source) relating to this question:

If one were to travel across the universe (if that were feasible) they would return to the point at which they started.

The way I understand that is you could travel for an infinite amount of time across the universe, and because of its dimensions, you would never reach an "edge" (because its unbounded, right?). It's a never-ending cycle.

[indieanna86]

Kinda makes your head hurt thinking about it! Or is that just me?!

[fo3nix]

bernardo: I was trying to keep this stuff simple ;)