# Volume of dark energy in space [duplicate]

As I understand it, Dark Energy is believed to reside in empty space. As the Universe exapnds, more empty space exists inside the Universe and so the small energy per unit of empty space adds up to a greater total, thus causing an accelerated expansion.

But if this were true, what about all of the empty space outside the edge of the universe? This theory appears to take into account the "interior space" of the universe, but not the presumably infinite amount of exterior space outside the farthest reaches of the universe.

Indeed, if empty space has energy, would not the infinite amount of empty space past the edge of the expanding universe thus exert infinite inward force, crushing the universe?

Said differently, isn't it the case that the amount of empty space is actually not finite - it is infinite, and most of it is outside the edge of the universe, and if dark energy were real, this wouldn't this result in an infinite inward force?

## marked as duplicate by John Rennie cosmology StackExchange.ready(function() { if (StackExchange.options.isMobile) return; $('.dupe-hammer-message-hover:not(.hover-bound)').each(function() { var$hover = $(this).addClass('hover-bound'),$msg = $hover.siblings('.dupe-hammer-message');$hover.hover( function() { $hover.showInfoMessage('', { messageElement:$msg.clone().show(), transient: false, position: { my: 'bottom left', at: 'top center', offsetTop: -7 }, dismissable: false, relativeToBody: true }); }, function() { StackExchange.helpers.removeMessages(); } ); }); }); May 18 at 18:40

• This moderation feels aggressive/not commensurate with what is appropriate as that linked question is asking something completely different, just objectively speaking. – A br May 18 at 18:54
• You clearly seem to think that the Big Bang happened at a point, which is false. As far as I can tell, this is the root of your misunderstanding, so the question John Rennie linked to seems very relevant to me. – G. Smith May 18 at 19:06