How can the universe not have a center?

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If I understand the big bang theory correctly our whole universe was in a hot dense state. And then suddenly, rapid expansion happened where everything expanded outwards presumably from the singularity. We know for a fact that the universe is expaning and has been expanding since it began. So, theoretically if we go backwards in time things were closer together. The more further back we go, the more closer together things were. We should eventually reach a point where everything was one, or where everything was none (depending on how you look at it). This point should be the center of the universe since everything expanded from it. But after doing a bit of research I have discovered that there is no center to the universe. Please explain to me how this is possible.

Thank you!

In: Physics

50 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because having a center assumes that there was space there before the Big Bang. But space was created with the Big Bang, not before it.

Also, when we look at objects and determine their centers, we are looking at them from the outside. We put them in space that already exists outside of the object. We can’t do that with the universe because space (spatial distance) is the object here. There’s no space outside of space. You can’t travel to the edge of the universe and step outside of it and look back towards the center, because you exist in space and wherever you go, you have brought it with you. In that sense, there’s no boundary, because there’s nothing on the other side. And if something has no boundary, how can it have a center?

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