Quote:
|
Originally Posted by snowflakeuniverse
Hi Piman
Thanks for the welcome.
Curving a line into a circle would be valid if space on the large scale proved to be actually curved.
|
Cite your source. There are many people claiming to have conclusive proof that the universe is shperical (actually hyperspherical) and many others claiming to have conclusive proof that it is flat, and still others that claim to have conclusive proof that it is saddle shaped (negative curvature). The truth is that we have no idea yet.
Quote:
Latest observed measures of space indicate that it is flat at least out to the most distant galaxies.
General Relativity curves space which is ok, but theory has to match observation. Each galaxy can curve space but a curve in each direction from every galaxy results in a straight line.
|
That's a different type of curvature (perhapse even into a seperate dimension than the curvature I'm refering to.) Gravitational wells (areas around heavy bodies) cause local curvature, into a cone or something. What I'm refering to is the cumulative effect of all of the gravity in the universe. If it is sufficient to draw the universe back into a big crunch (excluding whatever is making it accelerate now), then the universe is shperical, otherwise it is saddle shaped, ore flat.