# Was the universe infinitely large immediately after the Big Bang?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-universe-infinitely-large-immediately-after-the-big-bang/1008983>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 19, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-universe-infinitely-large-immediately-after-the-big-bang/1008983 "2024-10-19T21:43:49Z")\
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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-universe-infinitely-large-immediately-after-the-big-bang/1008983/62 "2024-11-11T17:34:16Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> Well I am speaking more of the philosophical question, as are I think, most people that raise it.
> 
> To physicists it may be an important element of the story to figure out how the laws of physics could have led to the existence of space time from some state where neither such existed.

The thing is, reality exists in spacetime, while nothing does not. Nothing is dimensionless: at least one of the dimensions of the universe is time. The correlation between temporal reality and timeless nothing is difficult – though mathematicians are skillful at working through incompatibilities. It would seem that any entity requires time in order to exist, so “_ **when** there was nothing_” is non-meaningful. The universe has always existed, because it defines time recursively.

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