Junker-king t1_ja4tqbb wrote
Reply to comment by ExtremeQuality1682 in Eli5 Help, please my brain hurts. If there is an expanding ring of light from the big bang, what is outside it? by ExtremeQuality1682
yes and no, there is actually a specified timeline of the universe's expansion down to the minute and even the second(or less than second lol). let me see if i can find the one that I was taught on... ok, so on second thought... Obviously I can't just upload a book to reddit, but the graphic and explanation in this link is similar enough to my understanding that i'm trusting it to teach you. https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html
basically, it cannot be said that the universe expanded at the speed of light for multiple reasons:
one being the universe didn't expand, it is currently expanding. It never stopped, we can measure it right now if we wanted to and if we were rich enough. I had to specify that first because if I didn't I would be allowing you to be misled.
two, being it entirely depends on which distance away from us (or Planck's constant, which was the very beginning of the very beginning, meaning it is currently impossible for us to measure anything before it occurred because it was the beginning of time as we know it) and at what point in time you are measuring. If we measured a galaxy next to us right now, it would not be expanding away from us at the speed of light because the distance between us is way smaller, but if we were to measure a galaxy on the other-side of the universe it would most likely be expanding away from us past the speed of light because the distance is *impossible to comprehend*. Keep in mind speed is just distance/time, and so is unfortunately not very helpful in this specific example... i'm actually pretty unwell rn so if this explanation makes absolutely zero sense, I sincerely apologize, I tried my best and if you have further questions I will try my best again to clarify.
ExtremeQuality1682 OP t1_ja5749n wrote
Your time is very much appreciated. Get some rest if you can. Thanks.
sofar55 t1_jaabfm8 wrote
Another explanation is that the more space between 2 galaxies, the more that space expands. Say you have 12 ft of rope. Every 5 minutes is expands by 1 in per foot. After the first cycle you have 13 ft of rope After the 2nd, 14ft 1in After the 3rd, 15ft ~3in The longer the rope, the faster it expands.
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