if matter can not be created or destroyed, then the universe has always been. if the universe has always been and everything is made of atoms, then that means that their is a fixed number of atoms (since you cant create or destroy any of them).

so to me it sounds like their has to be a fixed number of combination possible.

sort of like a combination lock.


so even though their is an insane astronomical number of combination's, their is still only a fixed number of possibilities.

so if this is true, then everything that has ever existed, even this moment, has happened and will happen an infinite amount of times.

im a Nihilist, so i dont really think this. but it is something to think about.

assuming the universe is a closed system, then yes, that is true, as matter being turned to energy and thus light and heat will be converted back and forth from states for ever.

but what if the universe is not a closed system? could we be constantly leaking matter/light/gravity into elsewhere? and what is elsewhere

assuming the universe is a closed system, then yes, that is true, as matter being turned to energy and thus light and heat will be converted back and forth from states for ever.

but what if the universe is not a closed system? could we be constantly leaking matter/light/gravity into elsewhere? and what is elsewhere

I'd like to believe in an evolutionary universe theory. It goes like this:

Evolution is ubiquitous. Assuming that universes DO evolve, their level of complexity is determined by the amount of carbon present. The more carbon there is in a given universe, the more likelihood for life and black holes (their mode of reproduction). If that were the case then information, or a blueprint, would pass from a parent to child universe.

I suppose our genetic code would be to a particular protein as a universal code would be to life.

if matter can not be created or destroyed, then the universe has always been. if the universe has always been and everything is made of atoms, then that means that their is a fixed number of atoms (since you cant create or destroy any of them).

so to me it sounds like their has to be a fixed number of combination possible.

sort of like a combination lock.


so even though their is an insane astronomical number of combination's, their is still only a fixed number of possibilities.

so if this is true, then everything that has ever existed, even this moment, has happened and will happen an infinite amount of times.

im a Nihilist, so i dont really think this. but it is something to think about.

Not so much. You are assuming two things that I think are incorrect. The formula E = MC^2 I'm pretty sure means that you CAN destroy atoms, they just create a fuckload of energy when you do. That means that you're fixed number of atoms thing isn't true, so the combination changes. Also, you assume that the universe goes on (in regard to time) infinitely. Have you never heard of entropy? The universe is likely winding down because, although energy is conserved, it's "lost" in chemical reactions. I think anyway.

But if I'm wrong on those two, then yeah, that's a pretty interesting idea.

Not so much. You are assuming two things that I think are incorrect. The formula E = MC^2 I'm pretty sure means that you CAN destroy atoms, they just create a fuckload of energy when you do. That means that you're fixed number of atoms thing isn't true, so the combination changes. Also, you assume that the universe goes on (in regard to time) infinitely. Have you never heard of entropy? The universe is likely winding down because, although energy is conserved, it's "lost" in chemical reactions. I think anyway.

But if I'm wrong on those two, then yeah, that's a pretty interesting idea.

i probably shouldnt have said atoms. i should have just said matter. even if you destroy an atom, its parts dont just disappear.



"Energy is subject to the law of conservation of energy. According to this law, energy can neither be created (produced) nor destroyed by itself. It can only be transformed."

when combustion occurs in an engine, a certain amount of energy is used to push a piston down, but not 100% of the energy is used because some energy is "lost" as heat because of friction.

the energy doesnt actually disappear.

but what is energy? what is energy made of? idk...

also, i dont get what you mean by "winding down".

i probably shouldnt have said atoms. i should have just said matter. even if you destroy an atom, its parts dont just disappear.



"Energy is subject to the law of conservation of energy. According to this law, energy can neither be created (produced) nor destroyed by itself. It can only be transformed."

when combustion occurs in an engine, a certain amount of energy is used to push a piston down, but not 100% of the energy is used because some energy is "lost" as heat because of friction.

the energy doesnt actually disappear.

but what is energy? what is energy made of? idk...

also, i dont get what you mean by "winding down".

As for what energy is made of, I have no idea. Anyway, I think I missed the point with the atoms stuff, because even the possibilities of split/fused atoms would be played out over and over again.

Whatever. Here's what I mean by winding down: What you mean by "lost" energy is simply energy that has lost its usefulness as far as reactions go. It's still there and everything, but it can't be used for much (don't ask me why).

A good example of this is the ecosystem, if you can follow me here. There is an abundance of plants, the organisms that directly use the sun's energy. Then, there is lesser amount of organisms that eat the plants. And the organisms that eat those herbivores, well, there's less of those too. As you climb the food chain, there is less and less of the higher up animals. This is because the feeding organisms can't utilize every bit of energy of their prey; some of it is "lost" in the digestive process and can't be used in reproduction.

Now, as for the universe, all of the suns and nebulae and shit are constantly "losing" energy because they are constantly reacting internally. Eventually, so say astronomers, all of the stars will have wound down, with nothing to reverse the process. They say if there's enough matter or something, it can be reversed, but nobody's sure of that and I haven't read that much into it. Hope this helped.

P.S. The whole point of this is, that if the universe eventually DOES end, then your whole idea is invalidated, because nothing can be played out an infinite number of times in a finite universe. I think.

but what is energy? what is energy made of? idk...

Heat energy in the sense of chemical reactions has to do with the movement (vibration) of any given molecule or atom. The faster or more often a molecule or atom vibrates correlates to how much heat energy it has. More vibrations, more heat energy. Think of your body when you shiver. The contractions of your muscles (vibrations) causes your body to heat up. When you stop shivering, you get cold again. Same deal with atoms.

As to what makes them vibrate, I'm not too sure about that. But I do know that atoms can cause other atoms around them to vibrate and therefore gain energy which is represented by heat energy.

Without having to get into nuclear chemistry and quantum wave mechanics, atoms can also store energy in the attraction between electrons and their nucleus.

As for your question...

Do you mean to say that the universe and time itself is cyclic?

Your question confuses me a bit... If you can explain it a bit better I'd try my hand at answering it.

If there are a limited amount of matter (atoms) dosn't that disprove the possibility an anything (involving matter at least) being infinite?

Also I'm failing chem so I'm probably wrong but it seems to me that an atom is determined by the number of protons present so by increasing the number of protons (and thusly electrons) in an atom you could create a new element, so the number of possible chemical compounds is limited only by the number of sub atomic particles in the universe