Re: Size of the universe question ?

Andy Hewitt wrote:
No_Spam <no_spam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[..]
According to this:

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/bigbang.html

The matter was already there, the Big Bang just caused it to expand.
Ok, I've read that. Far easier than I thought.
What this says (answer 6) is that it's possible the the speed of expansion can exceed the speed of light !!
In a way I can sort of see that working. If nothing with mass can
move faster than the speed of light it seem only reasonable that that
nothing (having zero mass) CAN move faster than the speed of light...

The way I read it, it only appears to be travelling faster than light.

But it has to be expanding faster than light. The universe is 14 billion years old, we can detect object as far away as 90+ billion light years. Even if the rate of expansion was just under the speed of light the diameter should be no more the 28 billion light years. So no matter where we where it would be impossible to see object 90 billion ly's away...
And anyway, if an object is 90 billion light years away that implys that the light has been traveling for 90 billion years, which it plainly can't have been!

What if the expansion isn't consistent ? Maybe it moves in jump... As the expansion puts a strain on space time. Like an earthquake, when the stress on the fabric get too much it expands faster until equilibrium is restored ?? (or maybe I just read too much science fiction !).


I think I might have to go for a lie down in a darkened room for a while
now...

Or one filled with light! :-)

What gets me going, is if the universe *is* a universe, by definition it
must be infinite, surely? So how can it even have a size?

But, surly it's only infinite because space is curved. If you could somehow measure a straight line without the curvature getting in the way
you might find the 'edge' ??

No, I just think, as humans, we can't comprehend 'infinite', so have to
try and put limits to the universe.

After all, nobody really knows all the answers, we can only go by what
is known at this time.

.

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