does the universe expand faster than light

Does the universe expand faster than light how to#
Does the universe expand faster than light Patch#

If you pick some particular part as stationary, then the other parts are moving a little with respect to the standard coordinate system. Even when the expansion rate changes a bit, that isn't enough to have much of any effect compared to the forces holding those objects together.

That would hold for pencils and desks too, since each one consists of a fixed collection of atomic spaces. Since atoms and molecules are held together by forces which set the separation of the parts, they don't expand. That fixed expansion doesn't really drag anything along with it, except by actual interactions between real things in space.

There's a fairly standard choice, however, in this context, and that's one where the distances between remote objects grow in time. (published on ) Follow-Up #2: Does space expand in atoms?įirst, I should caution that there are different equally good coordinate systems which assign different time-dependences to various distances.

Does the universe expand faster than light Patch#

A local patch of space is described by special relativity, which doesn't have any preferred state of motion. The average rate of expansion, however, doesn't directly drag anything along with it, unlike a fabric, except for minor effects of friction with the background radiation, etc. That 'fabric of space' metaphor is actually a pretty good, conventional way to describe the equations Lee wrote about for how the rate of expansion changes. The latest wrinkle is an additional repulsive term called 'dark energy' that seems to be needed in order to explain recent observational evidence of expansion acceleration. Given the average density of matter and energy in the universe, the expansion rate, as well as its acceleration can be calculated. It's like after the 'Big Bang', or as Calvin said 'The Big Kablooie', things just started flying apart and have continued, in the past slowing down but more recently speeding up. The agreement between theoretical calculations and observed ratios of abundance of light elements at the beginnings of the 'big bang' is additional evidence.Ĭhanges in the Hubble expansion rate, on the other hand, are driven by gravity and the equations of general relativity. You might argue that the red shift confuses the issue but by looking at ratios of several transitions any red shift effect cancels out. These atomic transitions depend on the length scale of space, as well as other parameters. We know by measuring the light of atomic transitions arriving from distant galaxies that the atoms 'there' are the same size as the atoms 'here' on earth. I'll try to answer as best I can.įirst of all is the issue of 'stretching the fabric of space' why do galaxies tend to expand relative to each other and not constituents of atoms. The universe has been expanding ever since the big bang about 13.8 billion years ago.You pose a tough fundamental question. The balloon is a model of the universe which is constantly stretching outwards. How does the universe expand – explanation

Remove the clip and keep blowing up the balloon.

Draw dots on the balloon with a black marker, these represent the the milky way galaxy.

Blow up the balloon so its about the size of an orange.

Does the universe expand faster than light how to#

You’ll need:īlack Marker How to demonstrate the expansion of the universe This is a very simple experiment to demonstrate the Universe expansion theory. Dark energy is though to make up between 67-70% of the universe. What is dark energy?ĭark energy is how scientists refer to the force that is thought to be behind the expansion of the universe. Dark matter is thought to make up between 25-28% of the universe. Scientists think stars and planets would not move as they do in empty space, but so far we don’t have the ability to see or measure dark matter. Much of the universe is actually empty space ( dark matter and dark energy ) and the things we can see ( ordinary matter ) make up only 4-5% of the universe. Scientists estimate that there are around 100 billion galaxies!! If you think the Milky Way ( our galaxy ) is thought to have between 200 and 300 billion stars like our sun, it’s pretty impossible to comprehend. It’s hard to imagine just how big the universe is. Scientists think the edge of the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light! How big is the Universe? Galaxies, planets and everything in between. When we talk about the universe we mean everything that exists. Today we have an investigation for little astronomers to demonstrate how the universe is expanding.ĭid you know we are part of a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way? Earth is located in an arm of the spiral.