big bang at the speed of light?

Question

if everything is exploding out from the big bang at less than the speed of light will it not all eventually collapse back into its self because of gravity if this is the case how can it be infinity? and if it is infinity must it not have broken the speed of light? both ways its not ment to be possible

Answer 1

You understanding of what was there before is a bit off.
You see when things expanded back just after the big bang space itself was created. The space as we know it. What was there before was something completely different So in fact things moved faster than the speed of light in a sense but only because space itself that light was existing in was moving as well.

Now that makes no sense I understand but if you think of the universe as just being a big balloon and we don't know what is outside the edges of the balloon. We have ideas but nothing is certain

That stuff beyond what we call space indeed goes on forever as far as we understand forever. There is debate if the universe will collapse back or not. It may just keep expanding till every thing cools off and dies out. Then we are back to nothingness. Then perhaps a new big bang will happen and a new universe with its own space will exist.

That's some thoughts. Others feel that the universe is endless and the "space" we live on and exist in with out big bang and all is just one of many layers of the universe that exists out there. Like slices of bread and out space exists in the loaf of bread on a slice next to many other slices but as it is now we can not see them or get to them. Also Infinity is only a measurement in man's mind it has no speed it just is.

If you are really interested in this kind of stuff pick up some books on string theory, on the big bang, and many books by Stephen Hawkins. Also Shcroedings cats is good as well as anything on unification theory. Some of it is wrong but it gets you thinking

Answer 2

It will collapse back on itself only if gravity is strong enough to make it fall back on itself.

In other words, is there enough matter/density in the universe, so that the slowdown due to gravity will succeed in stopping the expansion and reverse its direction (leading to a Big Crunch).

The critical density required for this to happen, was calculated. The density of matter is called Omega and the critical density is given the value of 1. If Omega is less than 1, the universe will continue expanding for ever. If Omega is more than 1, then the universe will eventually stop expanding and fall back onto itself.

Given the observations so far, it appears that Omega is less than 1 (and the missing portion is in fact the 'dark energy' that causes expansion to accelerate instead).

The fact that the universe may be infinite -- and therefore contains an infinite amount of matter -- does not affect the reasoning. Gravity works at the speed of light.

Just as we cannot see anything further away than 14 billion light years (because nothing existed more than 14 billion years ago), we cannot be affected by the gravity of any matter than is further away than that distance, because the gravity from that matter has not had sufficient time to reach us yet.

So we don't have to worry about the extent of the entire universe, only about the density of matter in our own, tiny 14 billion light-year neighbourhood.

Answer 3

Travelling through space, as we know it, is not possible. However, when the singularity appeared there was no space, only energy existed, under those conditions it may have been possible for the pin point of energy to expand at a speed much greater than that of light. When the pin point cooled down to where the first sub atomic particles appeared this was the beginning of time and space, a brake was now applied to the expansion. The gravitational fields of sub atomic particles are negligible, greater fields came into existence with the birth of stars and galaxies, all of the universe's matter was now in solid form and if there is enough of it the universe will slow in it's expansion. A previous responder to this question said that dark energy is causing the continued expansion, he is incorrect. Dark energy was only lately proposed as a means to explain the continuing expansion, but science admits that if this energy does exist they have no idea as to where it came from. Accept the fact that infinities only exist in mathematics and it will be easier for you to see that there are only two possibilities for the fate of the universe. If there is enough mass it will stop expanding and begin to collapse, if not, it will expand itself out of sight and existence.

Answer 4

Please look at these kind of phrases as pieces to a puzzle, of which we all do not know whats the images yet when it is put together.

In itself it looks impossible. But you can add information from black holes, that literally suck up mass and time alike. Then another piece that suggests the universe is expanding, and eventually it will loose power, and start to retreat.

Now if it is credible to you please read more, and best of all let your brain work it over without judgement. Remember that most real breakthroughs like the round earth or the concept of flexible time were firstly thrown away as impossible and rediculous, but later gained credibility.

So do not strive for wrong or right today, but bring new pieces of the puzzle and help sort them, and be just as happy to find out some have the wrong image or do not fit, because it will help you to recognise the fitting ones better.

Answer 5

It's perfectly OK for cosmological motions to exceed the speed of light, and all indications are that most of the Big Bang material was moving much faster than the speed of light compared to most of the other material.

Answer 6

There are theories that say that the universe will collapse back in on itself due to gravity. However there are also theories that say that it will keep expanding because entropy is favored in the universe.

Answer 7

Simple as I can make it:
The theory includes something called 'inflation`,
(expansion faster than light), before the decelleration
began.
Some material is thus forever beyond our event horizon.