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"What's the end of the universe?"
This is a long-term problem for human beings to explore the universe, and it is also a classic proposition in countless science fiction works.
In the process of continuous evolution of human cognition of the universe, generations of scientists have tried their best to explore the edge of the universe, but what is the end of the universe, can we reach the end of the universe, and can we reach the end of the universe beyond the speed of light?
After thousands of years of cognition, with the development of modern science and technology, human beings have a deeper understanding of the universe, and through observation equipment and instruments, human beings have speculated about the origin, true size and endless expansion of the universe.
But even so, human beings only have a general understanding of the known universe, and the end of the universe is far beyond our imagination.
1. The "end" of the universe.
Tens of billions of years ago, the Big Bang was just beginning, and when the universe was born, it meant that the universe was constantly expanding, so what was the size of the universe when the Big Bang was born?
The age of the universe is currently known to be about 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang.
In 2019, the results of the background radiation of the origin of the universe that were measured for the first time also showed that the Big Bang was born 13.88 billion years ago, which means that the universe began to expand infinitely at the beginning of the Big Bang.
After tens of billions of years of expansion, the diameter of the current known universe is about 93 billion light years, but you must know that this is only the size of the current known universe, and perhaps there are more distant universes in the distance that we cannot observe, and this range is far beyond our imagination.
So how do you prove that the unknown universe is far beyond the scope of the known universe?
In 2013, NASA's WMPA probe finally reached the farthest point from Earth in 2014 after a year of "roaming" in the universe, that is, a galaxy 43 billion light-years away from Earth.
NASA's WMPA probe detected the galaxy's redshift rate, which calculated that the galaxy was 43 billion light-years away from Earth, proving that the universe is much larger than we think.
After the Big Bang, the universe continued to expand, and at the same time, it was constantly giving birth to new galaxies and new planets, but what about the expansion of the universe?
At the moment of the Big Bang, the universe expanded sharply, but in the future, the expansion rate of the universe continued to decrease, until now, the expansion rate of the universe has basically stabilized, but what is the expansion rate of the universe?
In 1929, the American astronomer Heller discovered an astonishing phenomenon, that is, 97% of the galaxies known to mankind at that time were far away from the Earth, which means that these galaxies are expanding.
After calculations, Heller discovered an amazing rule, that is, in these galaxies far away from the earth, according to the different redshift rates of these galaxies, it can be seen how far they are from the earth, and at the same time, this distance is also proportional to the distance of these galaxies from the earth, which is the Hubble's law of the universe.
After observation and calculation, human beings have come up with the expansion rate of the universe, which is the value of the Hubble constant, which is 70 kilometers per second per megasecond, which means that for every million light years, the universe will expand by 70 kilometers.
So how long would it take us to get to that galaxy 43 billion light-years away from Earth?
This distance is like an infinite number, it is far beyond human imagination, and it is far beyond human knowledge system.
But if we still want to go to that galaxy 43 billion light-years away, then we have to find a way to break through the speed of light, which is the limit of speed, so how can we get to that galaxy?
2. Beyond the speed of light.
In 1920, when the American mathematician Friedman was studying the universe, he discovered that the surface of the universe and the earth is the same, and the curvature of the universe is a special curvature that will change over time, so how can human beings know the curvature of the universe?
In 2013, the correct explanation for the gravitational phenomenon of celestial bodies proposed by the German astronomer Burns in 1917 was discovered, that is, gravitational waves in Einstein's theory of relativity.
Gravitational waves were proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915, while Einstein's theory of relativity describes the structure of space-time and the laws of force on objects in a gravitational field.
But in 2015, people still did not observe gravitational waves on Earth, because the wavelength of this observation is too small, and the speed of gravitational waves propagating is the speed of light, so people always miss the opportunity to observe gravitational waves.
So if people want to observe gravitational waves, they must go outside the earth's atmosphere, which also means that they have to break through the speed of light to go outside the earth's atmosphere, so how can humans break through the speed of light?
In 2018, British scientist Wilson Olanft, German scientist Stefan Sherval, and American scientist George Ellis proved that the curvature of the universe is very close to 0 through the observation of cosmic microwave background radiation, which means that the universe is infinite and has no end.
So, if human beings want to reach the end of the unknown universe, they still need to break through the speed of light, how can they do it?
In 2011, Mexican physicist Miguel Arasse proposed a "warp engine" capable of breaking through the speed of light in a paper.
What is this warp engine?
The core of this warp engine is that human beings distort space through technical means and finally form a wormhole, so this wormhole is equivalent to a "high-speed channel" for human beings, through which people can quickly reach another place in the universe from the earth.
However, there is still a certain degree of difficulty in realizing the warp engine, and at the same time, the warp engine is also based on the control of the gravitational field by human beings, so it is still difficult for humans to control the gravitational field at present, and there is no technology to realize the warp engine, but the emergence of the warp engine provides the possibility for people to travel and explore the universe in the future.
epilogue
What is the end of the universe like, and whether mankind can reach the end of the universe, are all questions that mankind will explore in the future.
With the continuous development of science and technology, human cognition and exploration of the universe will continue to deepen, and perhaps more breakthrough discoveries and technologies will be realized in the future.
However, the speed of light as the limit of speed, how it is generated, and whether there are other possibilities beyond the speed of light, such as wormholes, space-time distortion and other concepts, are all topics worthy of in-depth research and discussion in the future.
At the same time, what is the universe like, and how big is it?
The curvature of the universe is close to 0, and at the same time the universe is infinite, so what is the universe like?
The infinity of the universe implies that the universe is endless, that is, there is no end, so what kind of state is the universe?
What kind of state will the universe eventually enter, and how should human exploration activities be carried out in the future?
These problems are to be explored by mankind in the future, and the realization of future technologies such as warp engines will profoundly change the life and social structure of human beings, and may bring new civilization development models and moral and ethical challenges.
Human exploration of the universe is not only for scientific purposes, but also involves the development and survival destiny of human civilization.