Science scratches its' head

[Nuclear]

Originally Posted by Trapped

It still seems to me though, that if we are God "outside" of time and space watching the formation of the universe, then at the point in time that the universe was, say, 1,000,000 miles wide in its expansion, there would be a measurable center 500,000 miles from all edges, which would remain the center even as it all expands to where we are today.

Some say in the comments that the universe has always been infinite, even in the context of the big bang. If that's true, I can't wrap my head around it.

I agree the concept is really hard to comprehend and understand, and the idea of infinity in both math and science is probably one of the most fascinating.

There is an analogy though that helped me understand it quite a bit better though. The comments are correct, in the context of the big bang the universe is invite, always and forever, its the nature of this infinity that changes.

Essentially prior to the big bang, what you have is a singularity of infinite density and infinite mass, but zero (and I mean absolute zero space). When this singularity "opens" for lack of better terminology, it shifts to infinite space of infinite mass but a finite density. The only thing that changes after this point in time is the density.

Essentially, imagine a theoretical ruler, one that is infinite in length. Then imagine a standard inch on it. Each inch is subdivided into 1/12", 2/12", 3/12" and so on. Now, imagine a force stretching this inch to double its original length, doing it to every inch along the ruler simultaneously. Each subdivision is twice as far apart as it was before, but has the length of the ruler itself changed?

No, it was infinite in length before, and it is still infinite now despite each part that makes it up being twice as long. Now just imagine each subdivision being a particle or piece of mass, and you essentially have a picture of universal expansion without an edge.

The cone analogy that you often see doesn't describe the edge of the universe in that sort of sense, think of it more like a description of density change.