Is the Universe infinite or finite. There is much debate among scientists, philosophers, and all other kind of scientists as to whether the universe is infinite or not. Is the universe infinite?

In physics, mathematics, and other subjects we study at school the question of ‘is the universe infinite?’ revolves around two main theories: The Big Bang Theory which proposes that everything starts from a point and expands; while The Steady State Theory which states that everything has always existed in its present form.

First, the Big Bang theory suggests that there was a point in which all matter and energy in the universe existed at once. It is commonly known as ‘The Big Bang’ due to the sound that it would make when everything exploded. A moment later all of the matter exploded outwards at an incredible speed which can be proved by observing black holes, which have a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape (Barrow & Silk, 1993).

Therefore the big bang would have created a big bang meaning that there would be another one very soon after and another and another until eventually we have reached here.

Scientists think this happens because there is a point after which, the big bang happened, where there was nothing but the vacuum of space. This vacuum of space then began to compress into itself until it turned into the first thing – the big bang.

What is cosmic inflation?

For scientists who believe the universe is infinite it is hard to accept the idea that there was ever a point where our universe began. That’s why some scientists and philosophers are turning their attention to one of the theories surrounding this subject – cosmic inflation.

Cosmic inflation is a theory that describes an expansion of space beginning with an extremely small portion of the universe, which then gets bigger and bigger as time goes on. The theory states that in order to explain what happened when all matter in the universe started expanding, we must consider the effects of quantum mechanics.

As time goes on, the universe’s size is constantly increasing. This phenomenon is known as cosmic inflation.

The theory was developed by Alan Guth and it suggests that at the beginning of the universe there were no separate pieces of matter; only a ball of primordial stuff with a tiny amount of energy in it – so small that it is smaller then an atom (Guth, 1997). This ball of energy stayed like this for a fraction of second, but then all the space within expanded and got bigger and bigger.

One scientist reported his thoughts about why this would occur; he said that as this happened, different forces such as electromagnetism and gravity started to pull on the matter differently.

How is space measured?

The dimensions of a flat space are measured either in meters or in ‘fast’ meters. The faster meter is the metric system and the other one is imperial.

In the metric system, there are 10 seconds to one meter, 300 millimeters to one meter, and 1 kilogram to one metric ton. So if you want to know how much something weighs exactly, you just multiply its weight in kilograms by 1.0666667.

So that’s how fast your space is measured (in meter or fast meter). The exact way of measuring these spaces differs so you have to get it from your education world when you learn about it.

Conclusion

Although these are two of the main theories surrounding the question of whether the universe is infinite or not, they differ in their reasoning. The Big Bang theory suggests that everything started from a point and expanded; while the Steady State Theory suggests that everything has always existed in its present form. However, as science and technology advance, a lot of scientists are starting to lean towards cosmic inflation due to its logical explanation.

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