Blog Post of the Week #4: The Universe and The Reality of It.

As I sit here thinking, I found that one thing I, myself, am having trouble comprehending, is just how LARGE the universe really is. 

We see the Earth as very large, the outer planets as insanely large and the sun as almost incomprehensibly large, but what about the universe itself? Our galaxy, the milky way is composed of an unimaginable amount of stars, just like our own, it seems like it is almost infinitely huge, now, the milky way is only one of countless galaxies. Billions of Trillions must exist out in the universe, if there even is a finite number to the amount of galaxies out there. So now, here we are, the milky way, in its unimaginable size, it is merely a speck on the grand scale. The universe is said to be over 13 billion years old, but that is not its size. Scientists have discovered that the universe is over 50 billions lightyears large. In fact, they have found two galaxies about 42 billions lightyears away from the Earth, one on each side, meaning that the two are 84 billion lightyears away from each other. 84 billion lightyears is such a distance, that I can not even comprehend how far that is. Even that infinite distance isn't much. That distance, is only the distance of the observable universe. What we can't see, is much larger than what we can see. The universe is so large, the diameter of the universe is over 150 billion lightyears and it is still expanding. 

As vast as this distance is, what I want to understand is what is beyond this distance? How is it possible that open space expands from nothing? The universe in which we are contained is our limitation to space. What happens on the outside of our universe? 

By this, the possibility of multiverses is probable. I see no way in which there can not be multiple universes, Each containing it's own matter and energy, just like our own. 

The only way I can put any sort of understanding to all of this is to think of it like J. J. Thomson thought of atoms, though his was the raisin bun model. 

So say the universe is a single chocolate chip (universe) , inside of a muffin (infinity) and the other chocolate chips are other universes. There they all are, placed inside of this muffin. Now as you bake this muffin, the chocolate chip melts inside of the muffin, expanding, spreading out but losing density (amount of particles in one area), much like the universe is doing now. So as the muffin (infinity) is baked, the chocolate chip (universe) expands, though neither one of the chocolate chips touch each other. After a certain time, the chocolate chip will no longer expand and that will be the end of the universe, similar to the theory of heat death of the universe.

So if you can picture this chocolate chip muffin and understand what I am saying, I will introduce the parts that I am having trouble understanding:

1. What would happen if the chocolate chip (universe) were to melt and touch another  chocolate chip (universe)?

2. What is the space that the universe is sitting in made of? What is this infinite realm inaccessible to anything in the universe, and incomprehensible to humans?

Regarding the first question, the only thing I can think of is dark flow, the force written in my other post.

Regarding the second question, the only thing I can even try to think of is maybe black holes are tears in the chocolate chip (universe) and lead to the muffin(infinity), that itself sounds sketchy. 

I guess the only way we will ever know anything is if someday we possess the technology to exceed the speed of light by many, many times and reach the edge of the universe, then figure out a way to take the plunge over and into another realm.

Last question: What started it all? What started the realm that is beyond the universe?

Thanks,

Dillon Wheeler