I was watching a show the other day and it claimed the universe had expanded several millions of miles in the fisrt milliseconds of the universe existing. Just simple math tells me that the 'outer' edge of the universe would have to have exceeded the speed of light in order to reach this distance from the original point of expansion.
Now, obviously the show did not address this, but I was wondering how this works in realistic terms.
2006-11-06 04:11:34 · 6 answers · asked by bc_munkee 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It didn't matter back then.
2006-11-06 04:15:39 · answer #1 · answered by Lightbringer 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's a very good question. I think that the expansion may not have been "matter" (as matter cannot reach the speed of light, according to Einstein). I wonder if the expansion was a chain reaction that made matter "appear" at the outer edges of the universe.
Now, I know that there should be just as much matter as their ever was and matter cannot be created from nothing...
But, that's why "The Big Bang" is just a theory. It has some unanswered questions.
Of course, after posting this answer, I read "The Wired" and it seems plausible.
2006-11-06 12:21:03 · answer #2 · answered by trigam41 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well since it is "space" expanding and not any kind of matter. The speed of light can, in a way, be broken as the distance between two points in space gets larger at faster then the speed of light. This still happens today as extremely far parts of the universe are expanding away from us faster then the speed of light. We can't see this because the light can never travel fast enough to get to earth.
2006-11-06 12:24:10 · answer #3 · answered by Roman Soldier 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would seem as if the speed of light is violated, but one must remember that relativity tells us that mass curves the space-time continuum. At the beginning of the universe the mass of the whole universe would have been compacted into a very small space and the geometry of that space would have been very odd. We as of yet do not understand what the geometry of space-time would have looked like at that time, but if space-time were to go from a curved and contorted conformation to a flat conformation then the speed of light postulate would not be violated.
2006-11-06 12:26:57 · answer #4 · answered by mg 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, to provide you with a quick answer, matter is the only thing limited to the light barrier. Space itself has no known speed limit, meaning that it can likely expand (or contract) at speeds greater than light.
2006-11-06 12:19:20 · answer #5 · answered by The Wired 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Einstein postulated that nothing can exceed the speed of light.
2006-11-06 15:42:17 · answer #6 · answered by Al S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋