How do you know the universe isn't shrinking?

Question

Scientests assume the universe is expanding, now I haven't bothered to look up why they think that so if someone wants to explain that here, go ahead, but how do we know it isn't condensing, or maybe it will begin to shrink back into the big ball of matter that created the big bang, maybe this isn't the first universe, maybe there was never a beginning and this is just one of a long string of universes. Like the universe expands, stops, shrinks, and boom, new universe, but everytime it takes hundreds of billions of years, which is a short time compared to infinity.

P.S. I'm not high

Answer 1

While there is no DEFINITE proof as to whether the universe is expanding or shrinking, scientists can look at certain stars and tell whether they are moving towards us or away from us by the way light shifts. If a star is moving away from us, it stretches out the light waves slightly creating a shift towards a reddish color. Likewise, if a star is moving towards us, it compresses the light waves creating a shift towards the blue end of the spectrum. Using this information and the fact that most stars seem to have a red-shift color leads most scientists to believe the universe is still expanding.

Answer 2

The space being cold and extremely cold , it has a tendency to contract matter and universes being mater would necessarily be condensed and cotracted by the cold .But the mater forming part of the galaslxies ar emostly stars that are burning with high temperature and the nuclear reaction that these stars undergo woulf keep them expanding and not shrinking . the expanding mater might move too far and collide into some other universe in the remote space quite outof rach of our instruements of prob .. the proiesses are cyclical as it is natural. the stars hat burn would have converted allit sicombustible materials into ashes and non combustible matter and when the exhaust ther fuel , they are supoposed to expoand and suck in all the galctic matr in its vicinity and turn into a lack hole due to the enormous increse in the desity and the consequential gravity . The space being one tha can neer been even imagined should hae much moe galctic mater that we could nver hope to see.for the reason space is space that is infinity.that has no end.. Mater has always existed and therefore , it is timeless and it is and was and could never havebeen subject to any event . Time being related to an event is irrelevant to matter that has alwys been in existence .

Answer 3

We know the universe is not shrinking because we see it expanding. How? Far away galaxies show a redshift in their spectral lines. That means as they move away from us (because the universe is expanding) their wavelengths of light are being stretched out. If the universe were shrinking, we'd see blueshifts instead.

Answer 4

Roman Soldier has it ... it is the same principle as with sound. As a siren approaches, it gets higher pitched, and as it goes away the pitch is lower because the sound waves are longer.

By looking at galaxies and measuring the red shift from them, they can tell which ones are moving towards us and away from us and can tell they are all spreading from one point.

Answer 5

Red shift.

wiki it.

Red shift is one of the single most important observations in astronomy in the 20th century.

Answer 6

because your still on it.