visualisation of the universe's expansion in physics we were learning about the universe and the big bang. we were being told that everything came from one point and 'exploded' outwards, and is continuing to expand. I felt that this explanation was unclear, so I said that it was more like everything being one the surface of an expanding 'balloon', but with an extra dimension, a space which is the hyper surface of the expanding universe. my teacher disagreed and said it was just like a big explosion. I think this is wrong-it implies that there is an edge of some description, or that the universe is just an expanding sphere of stuff inside infinite space. what is the best way to visualise the universe?
You were correct, you teacher was incorrect.

It is the space that expands - much as a surface of a balloon does.

An explosion is a poor analogy in contrast because - as you suggest - it implies something to expand into.

For another way, not as accurate as the balloon analogy but maybe helpful - imagine being trapped inside an expanding loaf of bread in an oven. You have no knowledge of the world outside the loaf - and you may assume the loaf is infinite in extent. But as the dough rises the gaps inside the loaf get larger without the mass of the loaf itself increasing. You could compare our position in the universe to being inside such an infinite loaf.