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ShortysTRM t1_iwo7t7j wrote

Reply to comment by Clearlybeerly in Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science by AutoModerator

From what I can tell, these people keep referring to any type of known matter existing anywhere in any amount as "space," ignoring the infinite void that you and I and everyone else seem to be wondering about. I think they're saying that all matter in the void is expanding outwardly from one singular point, not that there isn't an endless expanse of nothingness for it to expand into. I don't know this for sure, but the ones who do seem to be ignoring the entire concept of "yes, the paint is expanding onto the blank canvas, but how big is the canvas, and does it ever end?"

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clintontg t1_iwob1w7 wrote

Space isn't matter, it is what matter exists inside of. And the space is expanding in all directions simultaneously, irrespective of a single point. An analogy would be like zooming in on the cartesian coordinate system and seeing more points appearing between the grid lines. So the distance between "1" and "2" increase despite our ruler staying the same length.

As for what space is expanding into, it's a bit of semantics and a bit of scientific definitions/limitations. There is no proof of there being more than 3 spacial dimensions and the universe is defined as the thing containing all of the space, matter, and energy in existence. So as far as we can see there is no "outside" of the universe. It's an all encompassing, self contained thing.

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