Yes, dark energy *is* what he was talking about. Thanks for that clarification. The original expansion is just a result of the residual inertia of the big bang.
On Thursday, January 23, 2014 7:40:03 PM UTC+11, Liz R wrote: > > On 23 January 2014 20:09, Pierz <[email protected] <javascript:>> wrote: > >> >> I once heard a cosmologist say that you can't feel the force of repulsion >> due to cosmological expansion between your fingers because at that distance >> it is imperceptibly small. But if your fingers were at either end of the >> universe you'd feel an immense pressure pushing them apart. >> > > If he's talking about dark energy, fair enough, although since we don't > know what it is, I'm not sure how he could make that statement with > confidence (about the force being there between your fingers, I mean). > > However, if he wasn't talking about dark energy, I don't understand. I > don't think that the hubble flow *itself* involves a force. That is, the > contents of the universe are moving apart (except where they're > gravitationally bound) and they are interacting via gravity and dark > energy, whatever that is.... and that's all that's involved. Cosmological > expansion is simply movement, galaxies on either side of the universe > aren't being pushed apart by anything *other* than dark energy, and not > being pulled together by anything except gravity (as far as we know). There > isn't a force of repulsion making the universe expand - apart from dark > energy - it simply IS expanding. > > WAS he talking about Dark Energy? > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
