How Do We Know the Universe is Flat?

Special thanks to space fan http://www.youtube.com/tsjoencinema ! Your suggestion, while it didn't have the MOST votes, had enough to justify my doing this since I've been wanting to for a while.

Thanks to everyone for participating, and keep voting! I read them everyday...

Music used:

http://www.archive.org/details/Tfr07-DireCalamity-Ep
http://www.archive.org/details/dx_ambient
http://www.archive.org/details/FreeOsc38

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• astronomy
• cosmology
• shape of the universe
• geometry of the universe
• why is the universe flat
• wmap
• cosmic microwave background

[Nahulanham]

@MrPianoJames Flat is 2-D "length and width", but no height which makes it 3-d. Add 4-d and you have a hypercube and add 5-d for a hypersphere. The universe is shaped like a sphere, that is, it is curved in all directions, bent round or enfolded. In essence, it is both open and closed. A) It is a hypercube or 4-d whole where all time is simultaneous. B) The open end of it marks the vertex point

where the 5-dimension provides curvature.

[imnotdavidxnsx]

i seem to remember another point in history where we thought our universe was flat. i guess at least we're not killing people who disagree this time.

[ajhrockerboy6]

@MrPianoJames actually they are not correct. they think they are correct. nobody will ever know whether the universe is flat or not. you're talking about something that's so big. The Earth looks flat too however it's round. scientists these days are so arrogant; they have no humility like Einstein had.

[MrPianoJames]

@67bandit67 They are correct, the universe is flat. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

[MrPianoJames]

@Nahulanham I'm afraid you are incorrect.

A flat universe would not be 2D. This is a facetious argument which obviously isn't true. The 3 possible shapes of the universe are flat, open and closed - none of which are 2D.

You suggested that the universe was spherical. You are incorrect here, if the universe were spherical then if you looked far enough in one direction you would see the back of your head.

Do some research before calling things ridiculous. It is your logic that is fuzzy.

[gvman3670]

@dudejohnny Oh, I'm still open to other ideas. Some anyway. I sure won't be banking on my hypothesis without some evidence first. We'll need to be able to see things from a much larger perspective for that, though.

[Nahulanham]

@MidMASS2 Curvature in spacetime subsumes a spherical shape. A 'flat' universe would only be 2-dimensional. The logic here is fuzzy.

[MidMASS2]

@Nahulanham No, they're talking about the curvature of spacetime. 

[Metamorphosis33]

@endosymbiotictheory if you really thought you were right...you wouldnt be hanging on every post I make and would have moved on to bigger and better things like raising 3 kids...like I am doing...good luck and remember to smile and not to take yourself too seriously...and please try and refrain from telling people what they meant by their own words...people tend to frown upon that kind of douchiness...like trying to argue semantics in an argument your not gonna win...waste of your time...peace

[Metamorphosis33]

@endosymbiotictheory oh Hi again....I have already clarified my argument multiple times and yet still you say what you want my argument to be and then argue against yourself....I provide you proof of how math could prove the earth was flat when its round and proved that thousands of years ago in pre-Hellinistic societies they used the flat earth model...and you criticized the source and not the evidence...and then began to try and reword what you said,your a hypocrit in every sense of the word