I’ve often wondered why we think of infinite space existing only beyond our visible galaxies. Why can’t infinite space continue to exist beyond the electron and quirks. Maybe there’s dimensionally small universes that we can’t see or detect. Can anyone explain why it can’t be?
It can be, but its existence can never be confirmed. It's the premise you created - so small we cannot detect it. Remember that scientific truth is about what we can test and prove, not what may actually exist, which is always beyond science. Something so small it cannot be detected cannot be known to exist, not scientifically anyway. Regarding the vast universe being infinitely large, that too is just a theory. It is highly likely, compelling even, and much of what we can prove points in that direction, but we likely will never be able to prove it to be true. Einstein thought that the universe was infinite, but he joked that he was more sure that human stupidity is infinite.
Pretty difficult for humans to understand or believe that space and time goes forever into infinity. What's out there -----1,000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000miles away?? Anything? Nothing? Are we in a Truman show? Does any of it matter relative to our pitifully short lives??
Although its much easier to discuss and imagine infinity as being big, like what's past the farthest Galaxy? There has to be something beyond right? I started wondering if things could keep getting infinitely smaller. For some reason and I don't know why I started thinking about what I call infinity the other way. I'm aware of how the atom and sub-atomic particles create what we know as matter. But after really wondering about infinity being big I started wondering about infinity getting smaller than matter as we know it? But you are right nubbinup it will never be anything more than one of my head trip theories. Just thought I would share it and stir up some conversation and see if anyone else has thought about that.
A long time ago I posted an idea I had about a shrinking universe. 'What if every particle in the universe was slowly shrinking at the same rate?' It would present itself to appear exactly as if the universe was expanding, from our point of view. Not that I believe this to be the case, just a thought experiment. Special relativity can dilate and contract time, so why not Planck units themselves? Nobody was particularly impressed with my vision.
Years ago during the 70s, I came across a short movie called Zoom. It started on the microscopic level and zoomed out to --I suppose infinity. Ill check you tube and see if it's on there.
I have always struggled unsuccessfully to understand how a universe that is infinitely large can be simultaneously expanding. "Expanding into what?" one must ask. Of course, astrophysicists who hold these two propositions to be true (infinite and expanding) have an explanation, and I have heard it, but it is beyond my comprehension. No matter how much the subject interests me, it is one of those things that make my eyes glaze over and my mind wander to more immediate concerns, such as "what's for lunch?" Anything that takes three wall-size blackboards to explain in mathematical terms will always be beyond my reach. I'm but a simple creature caring for a dying pet dog.
Your not alone, I too have been out of my academic class when it comes to most things science. But I try to read and learn as much as I can. Some of the secrets science has unlocked in the last 80 years are hard to comprehend. But I try to understand and have always been lured to all forms of science. Physics and neuroscience have always fascinated me. Have you ever tried to understand the discovery of the Higgs Boson? Smashing two protons together each traveling opposite directions just under the speed of light and looking for a particle the instantly decays into smaller particles where the added mass of the smaller particles equals the mass of the Higgs Boson minus the kinetic energy from the collider accelerating the protons? Or something like that. And with the discovery of this particle it completes the standard model or periodic table. There's something else to try and wrap your head around if you want to trip out for a while. If infinity can go small I sure hope whatever particle our galaxies are floating around in never get put into One of those partial colliders. That would be the second big band. Or maybe there's been big bangs for eternity out in infinity too far away for us to know. Sometimes these thoughts can go on for hours but I'll stop now. And I too give my condolences to you for your four legged family member.
