The Universe

[Bazile]

We are told that the universe is expanding .
However as i understand it , isn't the universe supposed to be endless/being everything and everywhere .
How therefore can it be expanding - where is there for it to expand

[bernardo]

Into the fourth dimension.

[Rob_Da_Bank]

well seeings how the earth is like a grain of sand on a beach we'll never really know ...

[curlyfilm]

good point, big bang theory, sorry i don't get it

[Llamatron]

When we say everywhere we mean everywhere in the universe.
To ask what the universe is expanding into is moot, there is nothing outside as there is no outside.

At least, that's my understanding.

[Presario]

I absolutely love this question!!!!!!!

It's one I sometimes peruse and it tieas my head up in knots.

I love how no one has yet come up with any kind of answer, yay!

[Bazile]

It certainly ties my head up in knots as well - hence the reason I posed the question .

Perhaps the hypothesis of parallel universes is correct - and our universe is expanding into the ' space ' adjacent to the next universe ?

[dawkins]

Unfortunately for your hurting head, there is not really a satisfactory answer to the question.

There is no way of measuring anything outside the visible universe so any answer would be pure speculation and beyond the remit of science.

When scientists refer to the universe they invariably mean the visible (or known) universe. The visible universe is EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE we can observe.

The rate of expansion is determined by measuring how fast other galaxies are moving away from us using the doppler effect. According to Stephen Hawking this measurable effect shows that the universe is expanding - the galaxies are moving away from one another - by between 5 and 10 per cent every billion years. Rewinding backwards in time 13.7 billion years ago the distance between the galaxies would be zero.

So all we really know is that the universe that we can observe has got bigger. We cannot tell that it has got bigger "into" something.