Wheres the end?

[mattymatt123]

Everything that i can think of has a begining and an end, what I want to know is whats after the end of the universe?, if all has an end whats after the end? or is there no end?.

[mattymatt123]

lol :) I wanted to know since I was about eight

[squarebear]

Some people think it's like a giant circle and so has no end. I find it all a bit mind boggling to be honest

[mattymatt123]

maybe but whats outside the circle

[jake-the-peg]

All your experiences come from living in a nice cozy little world with moderate gravity moderate speeds, temperatures etc. etc.

When you get outside these boundries you find that things like time don't work the way you think they do.

Time is intrinsically linked to space when you start talking about the begining of space you also mean the begining of time.

Your language starts to break down - words like begining, before, start, end don't really have any meaning anymore.

Having said that nobody is quite sure whether our universe will "end" or not, currently the smart money is on it being 'open' that is that it will continue "forever".

But there are a few big unknowns in particular the nature of something called dark energy which seems to be accelerating the Universe's rate of expansion and we really need to understand that first.

[mattymatt123]

interesting and intelligent, but not really the answers that im looking for :)

[Eurox]

There are 3 ways we think the universe could end depending on how much mass the universe has. If it has more than the critical mass then it will be an "open" end, which means there just isn't enough gravity to pull all the mass back together, so there fore keeps expanding (and as Jake said, there is a theory which says dark matter is helping the universe accelarate). Another way is if the universe's mass is below the critical mass, it will be "closed" and therefore the rate of the universe expanding will slow down and gravity will pull it all together again in what is known as a "Big Crunch". Some people say that will then lead to another Big Bang and we go around in circles. The last way is if the mass of the universe IS the critical mass. This is called the "Flat" ending. Where the rate of expansion will slow down but never stop, so therefore it will always be expanding but as time goes by smaller amounts. Hope this helps.

[potterfan3]

If the universe is infinite there is no beginning or end. As for what's after the end.... an infinite amount of parallel universes all next to each other :P

[Eurox]

There is an end, theres a thing called Olbers Paradox which states why the universe must be finite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers'_paradox

[mattymatt123]

I agree with these your coments but my question wasn't really about time more about mass though

[nightmare]

To Eurox

I think you've got the mass criteria the wrong way round !
If the total mass of the Universe is LESS than the critical value, it will continue to expand - there is insufficient gravity to slow the expansion down enough.
If the mass is GREATER, it will slow down the expansion and eventually cause the Universe to contract.

[kwicky]

To have an end there must have been a beginning. It has been shown that time is recursive. If you cannot accept this you are left with the 'chicken and egg situation'. 'who created God', etc. Therefore what comes around, goes around!

[mattymatt123]

help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kinetic]

The universe ended when George Bush entered office.

[stevie1time]

A circle has no end,hence forth the circle of life X................i am not religous but i am not without faith...when we die it is not the end X

[stevie1time]

X is the point....

[mibn2cweus]

Don't hold your breath . . .

Let 'er rip!

[bleachbaby]

this is like asking where the sky starts, surely!!