Why is the universe so ridiculous vast?

Planet Earth,
could be nothing more
than one fertilized ovum.
We haven't even begun to
develop. Wait till we are born.
If you think the verse is big now
just wait until we really get going.


David Grouchy

What a wonderful thread, really thought provoking it's just like the old days on ATS! A star and flag for you!

The Universe (at least visible Universe) isn't really that big, it's just some 90 billion light years from one end to the other. That's nothing. A nonillion (10^30) coins would make a line that was like 2-3 times longer..

reply to post by zatara


I wonder do plankton feel the same way about the oceans of Earth, the plankton excuse for the oceans being so large would be to SUPPORT VARIETIES OF LIFE AND ENERGY. Mabey that excuse fits the answer you seek OP. And to take it further ARE THE OCEANS OF EARTH REALLY THAT BIG COMPARED TO THE UNIVERSE, UM JUST SAYEN....

[edit on 5/17/10 by Ophiuchus 13]

reply to post by Iluna


Your reply, as many other, is about what if our universe is part of something bigger and that to be part of something bigger again. That will make our 'universe' only bigger.

This doesn't answer the question....

I think it has something to do with how old it is.

The Universe is 14 billion years old and it has been expanding at an ever increasing rate since its creation. I don't think theres any specific reason for it being so big other than matter, Matter needs a lot of space to create "itself".

Its a very perplexing question and one I doubt will ever find and answer to.

Peace.
ALS

According to WSM theory. The laws of nature including all the natural forces such as gravity and magnetism are depedent on a finite universe with a very specific amount of matter. Significantly change the amount of matter in the universe and the balance of the natural forces will be thrown off.

[edit on 22-8-2010 by ParaShredder]

[edit on 22-8-2010 by ParaShredder]

reply to post by ParaShredder


This makes sense to me.

People say that everything in nature has a "purpose", I say it not that they have a reason its just that nature is in perfect balance with itself, it makes it seem that way. But where does that leave us with the randomness that is creation.

Its Head scratcher!

Peace.
ALS

Originally posted by zatara
Do you guys have an idea why the universe is this ridiculous vast?

We don't even know how big it is.

en.wikipedia.org...

The comoving distance from Earth to the edge of the observable universe is about ...46.5 billion light-years in any direction.

78 billion light-years. This is a lower bound for the diameter of the whole Universe (not just the observable part)

So 78 billion light years is just the minimum size, we don't know how much bigger it is.

But I agree with the other posters who say these numbers are beyond our comprehension anyway.

Not that long ago, the Milky Way was the known universe. And of course, people asked "what's outside of that?" Now we know, but we can still ask "what's outside the known universe?" That question will be harder to answer than the question about what was outside the Milky Way.

So the reason it's vast is, if we come up with any size smaller than vast, the very next question is, "what's outside of that"? Not only do we have a hard time imagining infinite size, but we have a hard time imagining the opposite too. If there IS an end to the universe, what's it like? If we keep traveling in one direction and can't go any further, why not? What stops us?

So our brains are pretty limited when it comes to dealing with things as big as the universe.

One answer to your question could be: "to boggle our minds"!

The equation of the cosmos:
ro=R 2/3N
This is used to calculate the size of a finite universe in an infinate space.
Here is an explanation:www.spaceandmotion.com...

Even from the perspective of the very largest objects in the universe, or even massive groups of objects like galaxies, the universe is incredibly vast. More interestingly, it's very empty.

In terms of matter and energy, the universe is pretty much empty. Even our solar system, millions of times denser than your average chunk of space, is almost completely empty. The sun and the moon are the only two objects that don't appear as just a point of light, and we can't even see most of the planets, or any of the smaller planetoids.