     
   To mathematicians and philosophers, infinity can be defined as a state of endlessness having no bounds; however if you were to ever ask a child what this concept means, what would they say? I remember the first time I heard the word infinity. I was 6 years old and was watching the movie Toy Story in which Buzz Lightyear exclaims his iconic catch phrase stated “To infinity and beyond”. At that age I thought of infinity as the part on space where Star Command (Lightyear’s home base) was located. Of course I know now that that is not what the character meant by his quote. With regards to the movie, infinity was used in the context pertaining to an infinite distance. Specifically, infinity and beyond was meant to illustrate Buzz Lightyear rocketing to the greatest heights ever imaginable and his determination to even surpass that distance.
   The concept of infinity is portrayed in many other mediums. Namely, Edwin Hubble’s theory of an expanding universe reflects the idea of infinity. He proposed that the universe in expanding at a constant rate by studying the movement of galaxies through their wavelengths of light. Hubble observed that the “red shift” of galaxies was directly proportional to the distance of the galaxy from Earth. A red shift deals with the light spectra associated with different galaxies. Namely, the galaxies light spectra were shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. In other words when a galaxy is moving away from Earth its wavelength of light is lengthened and depicts a red color. The faster the movement away, the redder the light. On the other hand, if a galaxy was moving towards earth its wavelength would be shorter and a blue color. After plotting the motion against distancing of a galaxy he found that the velocity is proportion to the distance. Overall the universe was theorized to have begun at a single point and after the big bang it has been expanding ever since.
