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Old 04-06-2005, 12:07 PM   #2 (permalink)
CSflim
Sky Piercer
 
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Location: Ireland
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noroku
Now since Space itself is the complete lack of matter, it seems to me that having this included in a definition of the universe makes it impossible for it to expeand or retract, but rather just items in it to move within it's boundries (which are by definition limitless).
There's your main problem. Space is not by definition limitless.


The image which is most often used to imagine the expanding universe is a balloon being inflated. The surface (and only the surface) is used to represent space (the ballons surface is only two dimensional, where as space is really three dimensional).
When the balloon is only slightly inflated a line drawn around its 'equator' is quite a short distance. As you inflate the baloon, any two points on the surface will move away from each other (every galaxy is receeding from every other one) and the 'equator' of the ballon gets much bigger (space is expanding).
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