# expanding into..waht? Chicken soup?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 6, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604 "2000-06-06T21:59:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@madd1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madd1)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/1 "2000-06-06T21:59:23Z")
As the Universe expands, what is it expanding into? And none of this “space is created as it expands” stuff.
We are expanding into something and I want to know what it is and how it got there!
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### Author:  [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2000, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/2 "2000-06-06T22:02:36Z")
Modern theory holds that the universe is essentially a bubble embedded in an extradimensional matrix. When the Universe expanded (expands), it is becoming a larger bubble in that matrix.
The extradimensional matrix is what allows for theoretical multiverses.
V.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2000, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/3 "2000-06-06T22:47:11Z")
Believe in the multidimensional matrix if it makes you feel better, but you’re outside the bounds of science there-- By definition, we can’t observe anything outside the Universe (if we could, it’d be inside), and science only deals with that which can be observed, directly or indirectly.
The key point about the Universe is that it doesn’t have a boundary-- Asking what the Universe is expanding into is like asking what happens when you walk off the edge of the Earth.
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/4 "2000-06-07T01:40:29Z")
As much as I like the expanding balloon analogy, I think it can also be a source for confusion. It is just a model and as such has some features that are unnecessary. One such unnecessary feature is the existance of an embedding space. Since nothing can enter or leave the universe (by definition), there is no reason to assume that anything exists outside the universe.
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> **SuaSponte** said:
> The extradimensional matrix is what allows for theoretical multiverses.
And Occam’s razor says it should removed.
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### Author:  [@madd1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madd1)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/5 "2000-06-07T03:32:58Z")
[QUOTE]
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As much as I like the expanding balloon analogy, I think it can also be a source for confusion. It is just a model and as such has some features that are unnecessary. One such unnecessary feature is the existance of an embedding space. Since nothing can enter or leave the universe (by definition), there is no reason to assume that anything exists outside the universe.
Why is there no reason to assume that anything exists outside the universe? We must be filling something. What is the Universe occupying? I am not assuming that anything exists outside the universe. If we’re are expanding into ‘nothing’, what is the nature of it and where did it come from.
I’m getting the idea that this question is the kind that might really bug scientists and theologians.
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2000, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-into-waht-chicken-soup/21604/6 "2000-06-07T04:48:03Z")
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> **madd1** said:
> I’m getting the idea that this question is the kind that might really bug scientists and theologians.
This question doesn’t really bug scientists. Science simply has no answer. The question is outside the realm of science. I am not aware of a theology that has addressed this either (unless you consider Heaven and Hell??).