An interesting idea...

[cosmovern]

I came up with a theory about universal expansion, for lack of a better term. I actually like to think of it as "dimensional expansion."

Imagine our known, three-dimensional universe. Popular theory teaches that the universe is ever expanding, out and out into nothingness, with all new galaxies and star clusters and such being created as it goes. Well, what if that's not entirely accurate?

What if the universe isn't expanding, but is gaining new dimension outwardly? What if all of these galaxies already existed on a one- or two-dimensional level, but gain a third dimension thus coming into existance in our on our dimensional plane.

A little far fetched, I know, but who knows? It could be right. I mean, it's not like anyone knows what's really out beyond the boundary of our ever-expanding (allegedly) universe.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm here all week.

[sanctus]

Imagine our known, three-dimensional universe. Popular theory teaches that the universe is ever expanding, out and out into nothingness, with all new galaxies and star clusters and such being created as it goes.

What do you mean by this? Galaxies are already in our universe, it is not when the universe expands that it includes galaxies which were outside (outside hasn't much meaning anyway)...

[cosmovern]

Originally Posted by sanctus

What do you mean by this? Galaxies are already in our universe, it is not when the universe expands that it includes galaxies which were outside (outside hasn't much meaning anyway)...

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that the galaxies that are already in our universe, to include our own were once two-dimensional or even one dimensional bodies, that gain the three-dimensional property once the third dimension expands to that point. It's sort of an idea of the universe already existing at it's largest point, and the dimensions expand to fill it.

Maybe it's a dumb idea, but I was just thinking about it and thought I'd post it to see if maybe others thought it was plausible/feasible. Probably not, but we can't really know since what's beyond is hidden from us, at least for now.

[Boerseun]

Interesting idea, indeed!

I've been toying with an idea that what we see and perceive as the speed of light being a fundamental property in the universe, might actually be the "zipping up" and "unzipping" of the three spatial dimensions.
You begin with three spatial dimensions floating around in their own one-dimensional planes, and where they intersect, they "zip up" and "unzip" again as they cross the intersection, thus creating what we perceive as the flow of time.

But it's an interesting idea, and nothing more - there's no way to test for it!

But then again, what started out as whimsical speculation have given us such cool things as the wheel, fire, a round Earth, spaceflight, etc., so keep at it! It's fun!

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by cosmovern

Popular theory teaches that the universe is ever expanding, out and out into nothingness, with all new galaxies and star clusters and such being created as it goes.

Just to point out that this is *not* popular theory... While it is common to teach cosmic expansion, I doubt that anyone claims to know what it expands into (which as Sanctus points out is a difficult concept in itself). Galaxies and star clusters condense out of the initial matter created in the big bang (according to BB theory), not as a result of cosmic expansion.

Okay, that out of the way. One of the most mind-boggling articles I have ever read was a report about a study which discussed the possibility that the universe is a five dimensional crystal, and that cosmic expansion caused the fourth dimension to crystallize into this fifth dimension - so that everything we see is actually the surface of a 5D crystal.

I wish I could find a link to it but it was in New Scientist, probably 7 years ago or so...

[cosmovern]

Originally Posted by Tormod

Just to point out that this is *not* popular theory... While it is common to teach cosmic expansion, I doubt that anyone claims to know what it expands into (which as Sanctus points out is a difficult concept in itself). Galaxies and star clusters condense out of the initial matter created in the big bang (according to BB theory), not as a result of cosmic expansion.

You're right, my mistake. Thanks!

[modest]

Your theory reminds me of M-theory and membranes. Among the string theories there is the idea of membranes that have one, two, or more dimensions. They say that the big bang could have been two of these membranes colliding and sticking together (if I remember the theory correctly). I don’t buy into it, but interesting in any case.