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What is a critical universe?

Updated: 12/21/2022
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When we speak of a critical universe, we're referring to the question of whether the universe is open, flat or closed. This is about space itself being curved, so it's a bit hard to think about. However...

We learned in geometry that the interior angles of triangles equal 180 degrees and that's true -- on flat paper. However, if you image a huge triangle on the Earth, with one of its points at the North Pole, one on the Equator and the Meridian of Greenwich and the third on the Equator at the meridian 90 degrees West (through the Great Lakes of the US), the angles of that triangle would be 270 degrees, since each angle is 90 degrees. This is because the Earth is a sphere (or almost one). You could have the same 270 degree triangle on a balloon.

Now imagine that the triangle was on the INSIDE of the balloon, and the sides, instead of appearing to bulge outward, caved inward. That triangle would have angles of LESS than 180 degrees.

The outer triangle represents a closed universe and the interior one an open one (yes, the balloon is closed, but we're not concerned with the whole balloon, only the part with the triangle on it; another way to say this is to suppose the triangle is on the seat portion of a saddle, which curves up away from it.) The critical condition is called Omega; if Omega is greater than one, the universe is closed; if less than one, open, and if equal to one exactly, flat.

The challenge is that the universe is huge, and from any tract we can measure, appears flat, but that may not be the case with the whole universe.

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