What if our Universe is the size of an atom in another Universe?
967198
yes, i believe that the solar system resembles the atom to a large extent and that shows the greatness of the creator, GOD.
645859
No practical method has been found yet (unless I missed a memo somewhere), though it's still a very tantalizing possibility.  We'll have to be careful when the time comes near, however.  There's a chance that we could start a second Big Bang and pop another Universe into existence inside our own.  A rather significant environmental impact.\n\nMeanwhile, have a read of Arthur C. Clarke's novel "Songs of Distant Earth," where he talks about vacuum energy and such trivial concepts as stopping the expansion of the Universe.
79119
Our universe has 4 dimensions of space-time, and the domain of these domains is finite.  However, the expansion of that is in a larger dimensional space--meaning more than our four dimensions, with higher dimensions orthogonal to our four.\n\nThink of the 2-D surface of a balloon.  If you were a 2-D being on the surface on that balloon, you'd have no concept of the 3-D space inside and outside the balloon--your entire existence wouldbe contained on that 2-D surface.  But if the balloon inflated, you 2-D reality would grow in the context of the larger 3-D reality which was beyond you.
1067957
No matter how many 'experts' around here claim that there are alternate universes or other dimensions or a brick wall, nobody--repeat NOBODY--really knows. Tons of theories, but not one single shred of evidence to support any of them.\n\nScientific research has repeatedly indicated that our universe is infinite in scope, and that it will expand forever although its contents (mass and energy) will very, very gradually fade away to nothing.\n\nBefore our universe began, and right now, there's probably nothing else but an absolute and infinite void totally without energy, mass, spacetime, dimensions or anything else.
339011
Qunatum uncertainty says that you can never be certain that space is empty at Planck distances, therefore on those scales there is always some matter-energy in the form of virtual photon / antiphoton pairs that suddenly come into existence and then annilihate one another.  This suggests to me that empty space cannot exist on its own unless there is something in it.  Ultimately, we can spin whatever theories we want and debate forever which ones we prefer - but unless someone can design practical experimental methods, then the arm chair physics will not resolve very much.
435134
So, I don't think we have the technology to actually know if two atoms are identical.  Right now, we just think they are based on various observations.  It could turn out that each atom is actually a mini solar system like you suggested or it could turn out to be just identical atoms.  Science is just a series of guesses based on our current observations.  It changes all the time.
10073
The size of the universe in terms of length, width, height, time is in a state of flux. At any instant it may be expanding or contracting. The universe is generally accepted to be currently expanding. \n\nM Theory (the conglomeration of the 5 superstring theories) tells us that the universe is the result of, so called, “membranes” colliding in such a way that create a pocket of space which we call the universe. If M Theory is accurate, it is probable that there are many universes just as there are many planets, solar systems, and galaxies. \n\nFor more information:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_theory
220589
For all we know there is nothing "outside" the universe, so obviously no way to look "at" it from any "outside". That way there is no way to compare the size of it, why you could probably say, the universe is infinitely small. There is a mathematical smallest size, called the Planck-Size. That is just where space ends to be space, so there is no inside. As simple as that. You don't need to invent any kind of god to think about those things.
484105
Yes I do. Think of how big we can honestly say we know that space is, then think a million times that size. There are probably millions of different universes out there.
659476
"...What are the dimensions (length, width, and height or thickness) of the physical universe (in light years)?..."\nThe universe can't be measured in terms of length, width, and height. Such parameters require some reference point from which measurements can be made, along with some distant boundary where the measurement would end. You simply can't do that with the universe because the universe is isotropic, meaning it's the same in all directions from any observing point. From Earth we can look outward in any direction and 'see' about 13.7-billion light years. From Earth that represents a boundary. Here comes the tricky part: if some alien in a galaxy 13.7-billion light years away from Earth looked outward in all directions (including back towards Earth) they'd 'see' a universe that appeared to be 13.7-billion light years in scope. In other words, the universe has no boundary. To have one it would have to be inside some "thing" else, and there's absolutely no evidence that such is the case.\n\nTo confuse the issue even more, if we had the ultimate telescope with limitless viewing power we still will never be able to see into the universe beyond a certain range. That's because at almost the same instant of the Big Bang the universe briefly expanded faster than light (this doesn't violate relativity because it was the space of the universe that did the expanding). In our 'normal' universe the speed of light is the speed limit which prevents us from ever seeing any of that inflation because it's moving away faster than the speed of light.\n-----------------------------------------------------------\n"...I've read that the universe is thought to be "saddle shaped..."\nMore recent observations point more towards the universe being geometrically "flat." This simply means that the universe appears to be infinite, that its space will expand forever while cooling more and more over the eons.\n------------------------------------------------------------\n"...What does it mean for example, to say that the universe is expanding at a rate of 70 kilometers per second per (x number of light years)?..."\nYou've described the so-called Hubble Constant. (70 km/sec/Mpc) It means if galaxy 'A' is 1 Mpc (1-million ly) away from us it's recessional velocity will be 70 km/sec. If galaxy 'B' is 2 Mpc away then it's velocity will be 140 km/sec It's important to keep in mind though that it's space that's expanding like that, not the galaxies moving THROUGH space; they just get carried along.\n------------------------------------------------------------\n"...I was not able to find a rate of acceleration of expansion..."\nI've been looking for a figure too. So far the only thing I've come up with is -3.15^36 /sec/sec  Darned if I know what the units of measurement are though. Maybe someone else on Yahoo can help us out with that.
296836
um     you can wonder a lot of crazy things about the universe when one takes the big bang into consideration...\nsay, one might imagine that all the matter that is us and our cosmos, was once one tiny particle- could it remain entangled?
844932
i don't think in terms of the universe being massive compared to the size of galaxies,but minuscule compared to that which is outside the universe, that way there is an endless supply of material on hand.here at the"center of the universe"it's all relative to our thinking everything is so large but since all we can do is theorize about whats out there,why cant we theorize outside the box,way outside the box. where did science get this idea ? i believe that a chaotic set of galaxies brings about an ordered universe that is a single organism of a larger set of chaotic universes,which in turn forms ordered groups of galactic multiverses which is a small component of a megaverse ,and so on
1075904
Watch NOVA on public television or science channel. There was an episode about string theory.\n\nIt's scientifically possible to explain other dimentions. Therefore, perhaps, we leave this world and go to another when we die! perhaps ghosts are just people trapped between dimensions.
65663
No.\nThe Universe is a physical object.  It has a definite size and shape.  The Universe is so big that we do not know its limits.  Our ability to comprehend is not the problem, our technology is.  If we had the right equipment, we could see to the end of the Universe and mesure its size and shape.
990249
The universe may very well be expanding into nothing. You see, we are used to thinking of expansion in terms of objects expanding into space (3D space) but the universe is space.\n\nThere is really no other way to explain it and it's something you might just have to accept though it's hard to envision.\n\nAnother explaination is that the universe may actually exist in a higher dimension (for example, 2D exists within 3D). According to membrane theory, the universe may have resulted from the collision of two "membranes" in a higher dimention and mass is the overlapping of those membranes.\n\nBut that is just one of the many possabilities.
636286
Yes. I think we are not noticed by things that are infinitely larger than we are. It's all relative, as Einstein would have said.
464239
The expansion happens everywhere, but things that are bound together even moderately, do not experience it reletive to what they are bound to.  You don't notice it in the solar system, our own galaxy, or even the local galaxies near by.  This is because the gravitational force is enough to overcome the exansion.\n\nSimilarly you don't exapand (due to chemical bonds), and electron orbits, governed by QED (advanced form of electromagnetism) don't change their size.  In a sense you will only notice it with objects that you are basically unconnected with.\n\nWe don't notice the cosmic expansion until we either look at galaxies and objects very far away, or look at light that has traveled vast distanced before it reaches us.