Ok, enough for the lame beginning. Basically, the universe is the area of the whole world outside the world, that provides area for you and everything else to exist. Space is the common term for the universe. Space is the big black airless vacuum area outside earth, containing lots of other planets, dust, stars, rocks, ice, flames, minerals, explosions, energy, possible life, and many other things.
There were many creation stories about gods and legends, but some scientists stick to the big bang-an effort to explain the origin of space. Once upon a time, space was a reallyreallyreallyreally hot and reallyreallyreallyreally small and reallyreallyreallyreally dense thing; kind of like the things that are thought to be when inside a black hole: compressed with infinite density of something called a singularity. Where did that thing come from? Why was it there in the first place? Why did it appear? Hehe, and who's is it?=).
Then, one day, it expanded and cooled. It is still expanding and cooling now, and it shall expand and cool in the future. so we think the universe has no end to its growth, and no end to itself (I mean, yeah, whats out of the universe? it would be another universe by definition, and if there is another universe beyond the universe known now would not be called a universe. Either the universe includes everything-so there's nothing out of it, or the so-called "universe" is not really a universe. A paradox. Get it?). That is the origin of space that has been come up with, with proof for it, and against it. (Well, for you information, there is a 4th dimension, which is 3d + Time, and that's what I think the t in the picture below is...if you can see it. x and y would be length and width, and h would be height)
Some people also say the singularity exploded, forming energy, matter, atoms, clouds, galaxies, and dust to form. We could tell the universe is expanding. The galaxies are not pulling themselves apart from us, but it is the space between us and the galaxies have been distorted and stretched.
Ok, after all of that boring stuff comes some more boring stuff. What was there before the universe? Well, no one really has proof or a clue. Some think there was this really massive ocean beyond measurements of dimension, space, and time-the great-great-grandpa of all universes. It keeps bursting universes into life, succeeding or failing. Ours succeeded.
How old is the universe? By observing the rate at which space and time is distorting and pulling, we can wind back the clock of time to when the universe was very, very small. The universe is about 13-15 billion years old, though other studies claim it is 18 billion years old (which is a big difference =O). Will it end? Um...good question. If the universe actually had an amount of things it could hold at a time, the universe would burst, and everything would be back into nothing. If the things the universe holds grow at a rate slower than the expanding of the universe, the universe would just keep growing like it is now. I wonder...if there is a "2012" for earth, when would be the universe's "2012"?
References: http://www.big-bang-theory.com/ , and a book at home.
