Is the Universe infinate or finite

[Earl]

If it was infinite why did it stop "making" (or is it still making?) did the energy run out? does that not indicate that it is actually finite?

[themos]

I think it's extremely unlikely that a primate can deduce the nature of the Universe by simple reflection.

[Earl]

I think you underestimate our imagination.

[themos]

Au contraire, I think we have too much of it.

[Earl]

besides im not a primate..

My thumbs work

kinda

We can never have too much imagination, its what we are.

[Capricorn]

Some said a long time back: Finite mass/energy, infinite size.

Makes sense. If we had a big bang.

Falls down if Hoyle was actually right and it is a steady state.

[Asur84]

In my understanding the universe is still expanding, and star formation etc occurs when certain elements etc come together, therefore if the universe is expanding wouldnt it eventually expand that far that the elements to create new stars etc are too far apart for this too happen?

Jonathon..

[Quatermass]

We have to face the fact that we will come up against the boundary of the unknowable at some point and when this happens what then? The fact that we came from star dust and now posses an imagination is to me utterly amazing and cause for a celebration..yay star Party!

[themos]

In my understanding the universe is still expanding, and star formation etc occurs when certain elements etc come together, therefore if the universe is expanding wouldnt it eventually expand that far that the elements to create new stars etc are too far apart for this too happen?

Jonathon..

Yes, I think that's right.

[FraserClarke]

In my understanding the universe is still expanding, and star formation etc occurs when certain elements etc come together, therefore if the universe is expanding wouldnt it eventually expand that far that the elements to create new stars etc are too far apart for this too happen?

Jonathon..

Not once 'chunks' of the Universe (i.e. galaxies/galaxy clusters) have decoupled themselves from the expansion by gravity -- then they can continue to collapse together and form new stars. Of course, they will eventually run out of gas, and the star formation will stop.

In this scenario you end up all the galaxies in one group/cluster eventually merging into one super-massive galaxy, with no other galaxies in the sky because they've expanded beyond the visible horizon of the Universe...

That does change if you start to introduce 'vacuum pressure' as a cosmological constant -- then eventually you can end up ripping atoms apart with that force; gruesome end...

[Asur84]

Yeah I heard about that, the constant dance of the stars, is how it was explained to me.

The galaxies all gradually rotate closer together untill eventually they all merge.

Jonathon.

[Matthew.Blake]

I think you underestimate our imagination.

Ah, the great hubris of the great apes.

Accept that we are little more than emergent behaviour and enjoy it.