Please correct me if I’m wrong in understanding big bang, I understood that there was nothing in the beginning and everything was formed all at once, hence the light from the farthest will take billions of years to reach us to see it’s present moment and so why is matter limited, honestly feels like a computer simulation since everything is limited in nature.
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Because the universe is expanding.
The universe expands VERY slowly – it doubles in size every 10 000 000 000 (10 billion) years. This doesn’t seem like much, but it does mean that if light starts far enough away, it will never get to us. Specifically, if light starts more than 46.5 billion light years away from you, the universe between you and the light is expanding as fast as the light is getting closer – and so will never reach you.
Because the universe is expanding.
The universe expands VERY slowly – it doubles in size every 10 000 000 000 (10 billion) years. This doesn’t seem like much, but it does mean that if light starts far enough away, it will never get to us. Specifically, if light starts more than 46.5 billion light years away from you, the universe between you and the light is expanding as fast as the light is getting closer – and so will never reach you.
Because the speed of light is finite and the universe has only existed for a finite period of time (13.8 billion years). This means that light has only had 13.8 billion years to reach us. Light from any part of the universe more than 13.8 billion light years away from us *when that light was emitted* hasn’t had enough time to travel and reach us yet.
Because the speed of light is finite and the universe has only existed for a finite period of time (13.8 billion years). This means that light has only had 13.8 billion years to reach us. Light from any part of the universe more than 13.8 billion light years away from us *when that light was emitted* hasn’t had enough time to travel and reach us yet.
People say that the universe may be a computer simulation because that’s the extent of our technological understanding. Before people have said it’s a play, a movie, etc. Now people say a computer program/simulation. The point is that people have always had a feeling that there is more to the universe than this material world. The computer simulation “theory” is not a novel idea. Read the vedas. Stufy Buddhism. There are literally thousands of years of brilliant philosophy on the subject.
People say that the universe may be a computer simulation because that’s the extent of our technological understanding. Before people have said it’s a play, a movie, etc. Now people say a computer program/simulation. The point is that people have always had a feeling that there is more to the universe than this material world. The computer simulation “theory” is not a novel idea. Read the vedas. Stufy Buddhism. There are literally thousands of years of brilliant philosophy on the subject.
We actually don’t know if the universe is infinite or not.
We noticed that galaxies tend to all be moving further apart from each other over time. If you play time in reverse, they appear to be getting closer together. And we’re able to play time in reverse because light takes a long time to reach us if it’s coming from really far away. So when we observe stuff that’s really far away it’s like looking far into the past.
But…. There is stuff that is soooo far away that the light will never reach us because the space between us is expanding faster than the light can travel the distance. Anything past this distance has exited the observable universe and we can no longer see it forever.
Thus, the observable universe has a finite distance that can be measured and is not infinite. We can only observe stuff that light can travel the distance between faster than the space expands.
But everything outside the observable universe? We’re not entirely sure how big that is. Could be infinite, might not be infinite. We don’t have a way to prove it yet.
There is the cosmic microwave background radiation which is light that appears everywhere and thus seems to be good evidence for a big bang type event (since if everything originated at a single point that would explain the light being everywhere). But that doesn’t tell us if the universe is infinite or not (what if the single point was infinite).
We actually don’t know if the universe is infinite or not.
We noticed that galaxies tend to all be moving further apart from each other over time. If you play time in reverse, they appear to be getting closer together. And we’re able to play time in reverse because light takes a long time to reach us if it’s coming from really far away. So when we observe stuff that’s really far away it’s like looking far into the past.
But…. There is stuff that is soooo far away that the light will never reach us because the space between us is expanding faster than the light can travel the distance. Anything past this distance has exited the observable universe and we can no longer see it forever.
Thus, the observable universe has a finite distance that can be measured and is not infinite. We can only observe stuff that light can travel the distance between faster than the space expands.
But everything outside the observable universe? We’re not entirely sure how big that is. Could be infinite, might not be infinite. We don’t have a way to prove it yet.
There is the cosmic microwave background radiation which is light that appears everywhere and thus seems to be good evidence for a big bang type event (since if everything originated at a single point that would explain the light being everywhere). But that doesn’t tell us if the universe is infinite or not (what if the single point was infinite).
This is a variant on Olbers’ paradox: if the universe is infinite, why is it dark at night?
This is a variant on Olbers’ paradox: if the universe is infinite, why is it dark at night?
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