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The theory of general relativity, under which space itself can curve, allows for the universe to take one of three forms: flat like a sheet of paper, closed like a sphere, or open like a saddle. The ultimate structure of the universe depends on just two factors: its density and its rate of expansion.
Is the universe flat or curved?
The exact shape is still a matter of debate in physical cosmology, but experimental data from various independent sources (WMAP, BOOMERanG, and Planck for example) confirm that the universe is flat with only a 0.4% margin of error.
Does the universe have curvature?
No curvature at all; we live in a flat cosmos. According to Planck team members, their own data aren’t perfect trustworthy when it comes to curvature, and the measurements of the CMB have to be combined with other cosmological probes to get an accurate answer.
What is beyond the universe?
Astronomers think space outside of the observable universe might be an infinite expanse of what we see in the cosmos around us, distributed pretty much the same as it is in the observable universe. After all, it doesn’t make sense that one section of the universe would be different than what we see around us.
How many dimensions are there?
The world as we know it has three dimensions of space—length, width and depth—and one dimension of time. But there’s the mind-bending possibility that many more dimensions exist out there. According to string theory, one of the leading physics model of the last half century, the universe operates with 10 dimensions.
Why is the universe flat?
The usual explanation of the universe’s formation includes a period just after the big bang called inflation, when the universe rapidly expanded. Our current models of inflation naturally lead to a flat universe, so if the universe is actually closed, they would have to change.
Are there other universes?
Our universe is but one in an unimaginably massive ocean of universes called the multiverse. If that concept isn’t enough to get your head around, physics describes different kinds of multiverse. The easiest one to comprehend is called the cosmological multiverse.
Is the universe shaped like a donut?
Cosmologists have suggested various ‘wrap-around’ shapes for the Universe: it might be shaped like a football or even a weird ‘doughnut’. Cosmologists predicted that a wrap-around Universe would act like a hall of mirrors, with images from distant objects being repeated multiple times across the sky.
Can we create gravity?
Artificial gravity can be created using a centripetal force. Thus, the “gravity” force felt by an object is the centrifugal force perceived in the rotating frame of reference as pointing “downwards” towards the hull.
How many dimensions do we live in?
In everyday life, we inhabit a space of three dimensions – a vast ‘cupboard’ with height, width and depth, well known for centuries. Less obviously, we can consider time as an additional, fourth dimension, as Einstein famously revealed.
What was before the universe?
The initial singularity is a singularity predicted by some models of the Big Bang theory to have existed before the Big Bang and thought to have contained all the energy and spacetime of the Universe.
Who has created God?
Defenders of religion have countered that the question is improper: We ask, “If all things have a creator, then who created God?” Actually, only created things have a creator, so it’s improper to lump God with his creation. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible as having always existed.
What are the 11 dimensions?
The 11th dimension is a characteristic of spacetime that has been proposed as a possible answer to questions that arise in Superstring Theory, which involves the existence of 9 dimensions of space and 1 dimension of time.
Is space curved?
Space is indeed curved — in four dimensions. Many people think the fourth dimension is simply time, and for some astronomical equations, it is. In Einstein’s Theories of Relativity, time helps us understand the three-dimensional experience of gravity.
What type of universe do we live in?
Most astronomers believe that we live in a low-density Universe in which a mysterious substance known as ‘dark energy’ accounts for 70% of its content, and therefore, pervades everything.
Where is space expanding?
Based on large quantities of experimental observation and theoretical work, the scientific consensus is that space itself is expanding, and that it expanded very rapidly within the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang. This kind of expansion is known as “metric expansion”.
Is anything really infinite?
Is anything infinite in the physical world? The universe could be infinite, both in terms of space and time, but there is currently no way to test whether it goes on forever or is just very big. The part of the universe we are able to observe is finite, measuring about 46 billion light years in diameter.
Is a flat universe infinite?
No. We do not know whether the Universe is finite or not. To give you an example, imagine the geometry of the Universe in two dimensions as a plane. It is flat, and a plane is normally infinite.
What is our universe shaped like?
If the universe’s density is great enough for its gravity to overcome the force of expansion, then the universe will curl into a ball. This is known as the closed model, with positive curvature resembling a sphere. A mind-boggling property of this universe is that it is finite, yet it has no bounds.
Are there 10 dimensions?
Superstring theory posits that the universe exists in 10 dimensions at once. Beyond these three visible dimensions, scientists believe that there may be many more. In fact, the theoretical framework of Superstring Theory posits that the universe exists in ten different dimensions.
Who created the universe?
The earliest cosmological models of the universe were developed by ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, placing Earth at the center. Over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System.
Does the universe have an end?
The end result is unknown; a simple estimation would have all the matter and space-time in the universe collapse into a dimensionless singularity back into how the universe started with the Big Bang, but at these scales unknown quantum effects need to be considered (see Quantum gravity).
