Is the expansion of the universe leaving and empty space at the center where the Big Bang started it all.?

Question

After the Big Bang which to my understanding started as a single spot smaller than the dot at the end of this sentence and then has expanded to the current size of the universe. With my simple logic I would assume that the expansion would leave a every growing empty space at the center of the universe but I have never heard any one speak of it.

The ballon comparison does not help me because the ballon expands because it is being filled to cause the exapnsion. As I understand it that is not the case with our universe. If all matter was created from the Big Bang and all matter was imparted with the momentum from the explosion then all matter would be moving outward from the starting point so how can it not leave an empty space. Even if all matter was moving at different speeds it all is still moving outward and in the beginning there were no obstructions to the pathe to bounce any matter back across the starting point. Even the clumping matter continues to move along the path outward. All your answers are good but still leave me wondering how can it not leave a void.

The point "No because everywhere is expanding equally" does not convince me because the statement is incomplete unless finished with "from where it started" which leads me back to there must be a center and a void.

Answer 1

To a rough approximation, that point could be taken as the origin for an inertial frame of reference. It would be the center of mass of the universe. The net momentum of that system is zero, and it has a certain angular momentum. Both will be conserved from that point on. You couldn't say that everything is moving away from it, but you can say all of the expansion is outward from that point.

However, there's some agreement among cosmologists that the expansion is uniform. There's no measurement we can make with current technology which disproves that. Most of the theories assume that, and if true, there's no way you can tell what part of the universe you are in. According to these theories, Omaha, Nebraska, may indeed be the center of the universe.

The analogy of the surface of the balloon is appropriate only if you're thinking is limited to the surface. Cosmologists do NOT think that the universe is an expanding shell like a balloon, with 'empty' space in the middle.

Others say it's not meaningful to talk about a point in space without something to which to compare it.

Answer 2

Actually, the Universe has no center, so that's why no one has spoken of the empty space there.

The correct way to think of the Big Bang expansion is to imagine the Universe as the surface of an expanding ballon. As the ballon gets bigger, every point on the balloon gets farther away from all other points, and there is no center of expansion on the surface of the expanding ballon. That's the same for our Universe, which is an expanding three-dimensional surface in a four-dimensional hyperspace (well, possibly it's a 10-dimensional hyperspace, but we're not sure right now). So if you were to pick a direction and start to travel through space, you'll eventually come back to the same place, exactly as you would if you were moving on the surface of a balloon, or the surface of our planet Earth.

BTW, the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, not stopping or slowing down.

Answer 3

think how a sponge that has been compressed and then released
when compressed all the air holes in the sponge disappear
when released the air holes grow
there is no center point that's absolute
all spaces in the sponge are expanding equally
so to answer this question
[Is the expansion of the universe leaving and empty space at the center where the Big Bang started it all.? ]
no
because "everywhere" is expanding equally

Answer 4

In any explosion (including the big-bang) not all particles from the center accelerate to the same speed, nor in uniform directions. This is actually good for us, otherwise the matter that forms our world would never have "clumped" together the way it did.

Since from the formation of the earliest particles you would experience differences in speed and direction (from these particles running into each other), I would say that the idea of a "void" where the Universe began is very unlikely.

The Matter of the Universe seems to be pretty evenly distributed (what we can see of it), which is probably very logical given the enormous chaotic environs of its beginning.

Answer 5

The Universe is enlargening....there is no center. I have read in a book that the universe can be likened to a chocolate-chip cookie: when you bake a chocolate-chip cookie in an oven, all the chips spread, but not in any relation to one another. If the planets, stars, and all other bodies in the universe can be likened to chocolate chips, then this comparison is applicable.

Answer 6

Read up on "Quantum Mechanics" and a little "String Theory".

There is no such thing as "Empty Space" at Planck's length the uncertainty principal and four spatial dimensions have so determined, so your question is Moot.

;-)