Science & Mathematics Expansion of the Universe

[hawkaz1]

Just had a thought that I need an answer to. Feel free to point out any flaws in my logic.

If space is expanding then why don't we notice it on Earth? I accept that at any point in time a distant galaxy is being propelled away from us by the forces of dark energy, creating new space where there was none. But why does this apply to distant celestial bodies and not Frankston? Why isn't the road in front of your house slightly further away today than it was yesterday?

If the whole universe is expanding then surely the expansion applies to any subset of the universe; surely we should be able to observe it on Earth?

Is expansion happening on Earth, but at a scale and rate that we can't observe?

Any insight into this would be cool.

 

[dumb]

my cosmology is limited to browsing wikipedia. at a guess i would say gravitational constraints would stop what you mention but in any case i think this is a semantic problem. why should it apply to any subset? expansion of the universe generally refers to the size of the universe itself rather than it and all of its objects.

 

[hawkaz1]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a wiki/youtube cosmologist as well, thus the thought in the first place.

It makes sense that the gravity on Earth would overcome expansion forces which may be relatively weak in comparison. Could you extend that to say that the expansion of the universe occurs most prominently in intergalactic space where there is very little mass, and therefore gravity, to counteract it?

And yeah, I was probably a bit wayward in thinking that expansion of the universe implies that everything within it must also expand.

I really have no idea what I'm talking about, it's just cool to think about space; much less depressing than thinking about the plight of Earth.

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Earth is not the centre of the universe.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I am no cosmologist either.

The expansion of the universe is largely driven by the age of the universe. While the universe has no "edge" and "centre" per se, if we think of it in three dimensional terms the older the particle or energy the further it will be from any other part of the universe. In 3D terms this could be considered the edge of the universe, persumably expanding at light speed as early energy keeps moving from its point of origin.

What that means in 11 dimensional terms (or however are currently theorised to exist) I have no idea, it could even be that when all dimensions are considered the ultimate size of the universe is zero and the apparent size is only due to us being able to perceive only the used dimensions. (in 3d terms, the colume of a square is zero, as one of the three dimensions is zero, ie. length x breadth x height of zero).
Now that is a more random thought than the OP´s and no doubt utterly wrong, simply because I just can not get my head around all the dimensions involved.

 

[Pie eyed]

Just had a thought that I need an answer to. Feel free to point out any flaws in my logic.

If space is expanding then why don't we notice it on Earth? I accept that at any point in time a distant galaxy is being propelled away from us by the forces of dark energy, creating new space where there was none. But why does this apply to distant celestial bodies and not Frankston? Why isn't the road in front of your house slightly further away today than it was yesterday?

If the whole universe is expanding then surely the expansion applies to any subset of the universe; surely we should be able to observe it on Earth?

Is expansion happening on Earth, but at a scale and rate that we can't observe?

Any insight into this would be cool.

Irrelevant to the expansion of the universe per se, but relevant in the context you expressed, the entire earth crust is constantly moving.
It is not obvious to the naked eye at most times, earthquakes not withstanding.

 

[Hue_Jars]

Do the laws of entropy (everything is falling apart/destructing/moving away - I think this is entropy..) relate to the universe expanding?

Cos Frankston is falling apart/destructing in all dimensions.

So maybe you can view the universe expanding in front of your eyes.

 

[cancat]

Why isn't the road in front of your house slightly further away today than it was yesterday?

It looks the same because your eyes have also expanded

 

[Walesy]

Why isn't the road in front of your house slightly further away today than it was yesterday?

Perhaps it is? But perhaps the tools that you use to measure said gap have changed as well, resulting relationally in no change to the observer?

That said, science is weird. 99.9999999999999% of everything is nothing, so that .0000000000001% probably messes things up.