How could the universe expand faster than the speed of light? That seems impossible!
- asks Paul
Joshua J Romero • July 9, 2007
![[CREDIT: NASA/L.BEWLEY]](https://scienceline.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/timespace.jpg)
[CREDIT: NASA/L.BEWLEY]
In science fiction universes, traveling the galaxy is a snap – just engage the “warp” or “hyperspeed” drive, and off you go, cruising the cosmos at several times the speed of light. But back in reality, we’ve all been taught that the speed of light is a strict traffic law that can’t be broken. This is true, but slightly misleading.
Einstein’s theory of special relativity, first published in 1905, asserted that the speed of light is a constant (300 million meters per second), no matter who measures it. It’s always the same whether you are in motion or at rest. This line of thinking is a lot different than we’re used to experiencing. For example, if you try to measure the speed of an oncoming car from a moving vehicle, you end up getting the combined speed of both cars. This is why cops have to stay parked. Light is different, because no matter what you’re doing it always goes the same speed.
The speed of light affects us more than we realize – it helps us understand the difference between cause and effect. If things could move faster than the light we see them by, we’d be in for weird experiences. If you were a catcher trying to catch a superluminal fastball, you might feel the ball hit your glove even before the pitcher starts his wind-up: The effect before the cause. That’s because the image of object would be traveling at the speed of light, trailing the faster baseball like the slower sound of thunder trails after the image of lightning.
Now that we have a taste for Einstein’s theory, we know that baseballs don’t go faster than the speed of light. But is there anything that can? It turns out that the speed of light is only a limit on objects – like baseballs – as they move through space. The movement of space itself, however, can make the speed of light seem slow.
Right after the Big Bang, the universe had a monstrous growth-spurt called inflation. The whole thing was over in less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, but the universe grew exponentially in that brief blip, repeatedly doubling in size. At the end of inflation, although the universe was still smaller than a car, the outer edge had traveled many times faster than the speed of light. Since then, the universe has continued its expansion, but at a more reasonable, steady pace.
This ultra-fast growth seems to contradict what we’ve just discussed, but it makes sense if you understand the distinction between expansion and motion. When astronomers say that the universe is expanding, they’re talking about the rather abstract concept of space-time. Basically, space-time is the three physical dimensions of our existence-length, breadth and depth-combined with the additional dimension of time; think of it as a wire grid that connects every part of the universe to every other part. When we say an object has motion, we’re referring to its change in position relative to the space-time grid. The speed of light is only a constraint for objects that exist within space-time, not for space-time itself.
To better visualize the theory, astronomers often illustrate the expanding universe as a loaf of raisin bread rising in the oven. The raisins are galaxies and the rising dough represents space-time. As the dough expands, the raisin galaxies find themselves farther apart from each other, even though they are not moving relative to the dough between them.
Now let’s imagine that there’s a beetle in the loaf and it starts crawling toward a faraway raisin (don’t worry- we’re not going to eat it anyway). The beetle represents anything within space, such as baseballs, spaceships or photons. When the beetle burrows through the bread, he is moving relative to the dough, and all the other raisins. The speed of light limits how fast the beetle can travel, but not how quickly the bread can rise. Just because the expansion of space can break the speed limit, it doesn’t mean that we can go faster than Einstein said we could.
So, while the speed of light remains an unbreakable barrier for those of us within the universe, it can’t limit the expansion of space-time itself. The universe keeps right on expanding, but the speed of light limits how much of it we can see, and how fast we can move. It may not be fair, but that’s physics.
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About the Author
Joshua J Romero
Josh comes to science writing in New York City after studying astronomy and physics in Arizona. While he misses never wearing real shoes, Josh relishes the opportunity to read about science, politics, arts and culture on his daily subway rides. A former college-radio DJ, he is often found late at night in a half-empty, downtown bar listening to a noisy, experimental band with no record deal. He is fascinated with the boundaries of science, where it must intersect with politics, art, religion, or human nature.
198 Comments
Joshua Romero, thanks for your article. I think it clears up a lot of confusion, at least in my mind, by emphasizing that the distinction between motion and expansion must be appreciated.
tony, that is the paradox of tachyons, flowing backwards in time from the particles destruction to the end of their existence their birth. these particles also defy the light speed limit…but alas in math they can exist. but in reality they they more than likely dont. the only thing, which doesnt actualy move faster than light, but does some how comunicate faster than light is quantum entanglement, which is just as strange if not stranger than space time.
@gregs, what am trying to say is that no matter how weirder things get out there. I dont believe you can ever, ever get an effect before the cause.
i agree tony. effect before cause seems illogical to me too. thats the reason i pointed out the paradox of the tachyon. i dont think tachyons exist either. yet head scratchingly true (its been theorized and then proven) quantum entanglement is real. going faster than light also begins to change how energy is used. if you are travelling faster than light rather than adding energy to go faster, you remove energy to speed up and add energy to slow down. usually i would add an explietive because lets be clear on this, its well fudging mad. well back to the poor tachyon r i p i loved you in science fiction…. (wipes a tear from eye at the passing of the tachyon)
Well Greg, sorry for your loss. And thanks for pointing that out to me. But if effect before cause seems illogical to you, that means your perspective on things are about what things seems, and not what they are.The paradox of the tachyon sounds simple and seems possible, but if you think about it realistically, you know it can’t happen. Am more about what is, not what seems like. Alot of stories can be concocted by what seems like just like in science fiction. I know you like science fiction.
What am trying to make you understand greg is even if two people could communicate among themselves using tachyon device and it seems from ones perspective that he got a response before the othe sent the signal this is never actaully the case, it merely seems to them as the case because of relativity. But realistically it can never happen. Thats why i have trouble with what seems like. If you add a third observer that is outside the equation from the other two. He will tell you how things are and not what it seems like.
See just like you greg I dont believe in the paradox as well.
The law of cause and effect does not exist.If you go back to God and he allways existed you have an effect without a cause,same accounts for the beginning of the universe how and whatever it may be,you allways end up with an effect without a cause.so do you have some effects today that do not have a cause?? Scary!!!.
In the 5th paragraph of this piece, the author states that the universe continued at a “constant steady pace”. This is wholly inaccurate as it was discovered by mr Hubble(yep..that hubble)that the universe is actually “Accelerating”. Which has been a major mystery even to this day( for which I have a very practical but controversial theory, that does not include dark matter.)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/math/f/7/d/f7d5920cfccedc4d7f98023cd421ee62.png
is the formula that proves the acceleration..
If anyone knows how to publish a scientific paper properly, I would appreciate an email and some help. ( not financial, only academic) thank you.
I would like to put forth the idea of time dilation with respect to the raisins in the loaf of bread. My thought is that those raisins depending on their own positions relative to massive objects are stuck in gravity wells that slow their time relative to the rest of the universe. The thought is that while we see objects in the universe based on the light we receive and make measurements from that light have we truly accounted for the dilation of time with respect to how the light got to us in the first place? What if we have been in a gravity well here on earth that dilutes time for us, slows it down, relative to objects out in the universe such that they our perception of them is that they are much further away than they really are or some other scenario?
u guys hav not considered the human mind to be anything or u would have speedily grasp the fact that the human mind is the fastest entity in existence for now anyway
I’ve been watching How the Universe Works and it led me eventually to here. My mind is well and truly blown. I was aware of these concepts, but when you actually have them explained to you by people who know what they are talking about it is incredible. I really feel like going back to the planetarium. Thanks so much for the fascinating discussion.
How can we see ANYTHING in the sky, if we’re moving away from it faster than light? But we can. Ergo we’re not.
Dear All commentators,
I myself agreed with your commennts, but the question is this, which is begin to create me mad mad and mad, how the Sciencetist assume the speed, about the Big bang, what is Big Bang,how it started, while there was nothing, let suppose, there was abig black hole, what was beside and inside the hole?
no body have perfect answer, am I right, now how big bang started without any molucules or elements, how its collied with each other, which one, is the big bang automatically create the sand soil,rock gases, air and every thing which we are discovering gadually after experiment.Everywhere about the Big Bang, but actually no body can explain about big bang, how the big bang started, which elements, molucles or something else force for big bang, is big bang create it self the soil rock,star, sun moon, gases,earth and other live things even water and gases, so it is clear now that before big bang there were every thing may be in black hole and God created the big bang to make the universe.The formula=There is nothing= to nothing, if there is something, resulting something, these topic s are foolishness, and just making fool himself who thinks about how create the universe, , I question you, which power create the big bang? wjhich elements or molucules in big bang, from where those elements or molucles came?, have you any solid answer, no never, so my dear, now faith upon God he is almighty, and notjhing else, he is from the very begining even before big bang , name of God started from where when our thinking reached up to end, but there is a super power, name God, so do not go against the nature or God,big bang not create the man,animal, wild and each and every things on earth even on another planet, which we do not know, and never can reach up to there, even the NASA build the engine more faster i.e the speed, billion miles per second or trillion miles per second. we just create to pass our life as the almighty God bestow us his book Bible, Quran Sherif, and send the prophet time to time to teach us the truth and fact, we can not comapare our self Nauzbillah with almighty God,our thinking is finished and his nature sart. No doubt God mentioned in his Quran that I made every thing for you you find out for the sake of you, but it does not mean,you discover about me nauzbillah, what was before God, what is over the sky, where the end of the universe,how I create the things, man animal trees, and each and every things,These are the evils thinking, he ever tried to humen against almighty God, and the foolish men think all the time about these foolish things.Big Bang, I myself do not believe, we jus assume no evidence, no prove.
B.Tariq Iqbal, whatever we cannot comprehend, we attribute it to God. No wonder it is the most exploited term in any language. Sadly for you, science does not work that way.
at the speed of light, 0 really is the value of every governing factor. so my question is this. 1. how did the universe slow down? at the speed of light you need to remove energy, but there isn’t anything to remove because all factors are zero (or infinite) ? 2. did the universe shed nearly all its mass to slow down? 3. do i win a fiver? that last one was a joke
one more thing though, a being without mass could in theory be at the speed of light, and more importantly be everywhere. (i’m an atheist by the way). an omnipotent being without mass could have generated what we observe, but still be out of our plane of sight. we dont see light, but we do see what it effects. that is the molecules and atoms it bounces off of, passes through etc. i dont personaly believe, but hey logicaly it is up for debate (even if it is/is not hokum).
speed requires a relative point in space in order to be measurable. and acceleration requires a fixed starting point. so how can the big bang, or expansion, have a speed? how can it have an acceleration? everything we know of physics tells us that the big bang is impossible
Here’s something else I struggle to understand. I read that the Hubble telescope can see light 10-15 billion years old. The Hubble Deep Field is apparently light from objects that took that long to reach us. So if the Universe is approx 15B years old how did those objects get 15B light years away from here if the Universe has been expanding all this time? Does this mean it ‘inflated’ almost instantly to 15B light years across and has only been slowly expanding since then? I read somewhere that it could inflate above light speed because time-space didn’t exist until after it happened so the limits don’t apply. Sounds a bit like a neat trick to stop the theories falling apart to me!
I agree with you Robin.what worries me is when did the law of cause and effect come into being? If it was always a law then something must have caused the big bang,but then what caused that something etc. etc.ect.etc.so is cause and effect the samething? Then where does time come into the picture? Which means that an effect will always in turn become a new cause!!!! which in effect means there is no beginning and no end?
The speed of light is zero.
In the beginning all energy was used for moving in all directions at the same time ,so relativity did not exist.when some matter here and then slowed down some of the energy became available for other purposes and relativity was born.
Those particles that came to a compled standstill became light,and the rest of matter moved away from it at its origianal relative speed.so light is not moving at all,
In the beginning all matter was moving in all directions at the same time (inflation) all available energy was used for movement.so to an observer it would seem as though nothing was moving,relativity did not exist.
Then some of the matter slowed down using some of its movement energy to slam on brakes.it thus changed its relative position to the rest of matter that was using all its energy to move (relativity came into being)
To an observer it would seem as though the matter that had slowed was the one that was moving,because it was changing its relative position to the rest that was all moving in the same direction at thesame speed.
If a particle had to use all its movement energy and slow down to astandstill ,the rest of matter would be moving away at the maximum speed.ln other words the speed of light. I therefore make the point that the speed of light is zero.it used up all of its energy to put on the brakes and come to a standstill i therefore postulate that light is standing still and the rest is moving away.
Opinions please.
Willy Gauche’
In the beginning all the energy of matter was used for movement at the so called speed of light.
For some or other reason some of the matter used some of the energy to produce heat and slowed down creating the illusion of moving away from tne rest of the matter.(relativity was thus created)
Photons changed all the energy used for movement into light thus coming to a total standstill.the rest of the matter kept on moving away at full speed.(the speed of light).
An observer would not know that the photons were standing still and the rest were moving away at the so called speed of light.
So light is standing still and the rest of matter is moving.
Any opinions please
Special Relativity is called “special” for a “special” reason ya know!!!! :-D What does E=mc2 really calculate, after all? What is “c2” anyway?
Should we not do as Albert said, and “simplify” things to their simplest form? Even things he didn’t get around to simplifying? Should the equation not be simplified to E=md? Not that the mathematical value of the numeric variables change, only the description to what it really is, c2=d.
The argument between classic and quantum physics is, “classic says there was a Big Bang, quantum suggests that there was no Big Bang, that the Universe had no beginning, that it always has existed in a sense of time.” Which of these is correct? The answer, BOTH are correct. But how can this be? Easy! Postulate! :-D
And why does so much Dark Energy exist, more than existed at Big Bang? Common sense here on this one LOL!!!
I have not read the above article because I don’t have to. The answer to the question in the title is: the special relativity applies to the material universe. The universe may expands in excess of speed of light (inflates) but does not expand in anything. Outside the universe is nothing, no any space. Outside of the universe does not exist. With expansion space is created. The relativity theory does not apply to the edges of the universe.
Two years ago I posed a hypothesis of a grain-structure photon (provided on my google+ website) that explain ostensible expansion of the universe as well its acceleration with time. To me, grain-structure photon eliminates any expansion and makes cosmological model much simpler (and more reasonable to me).
Kevin Almaroad: If you have a contribution, then contribute. Are you serious in asking what is E=mc2? What is c2? If so, then take intro to physics and learn. If not, what is your point? Special Relativity expresses the relationship between energy and mass, that each can be expressed by the other in terms of the speed of light per second per second.
Einstein did not mean simplify by substituting one connotation for another. c = speed of light. In his formula, c2 means the speed of light x the speed of light. Substituting d for c2 is not simplifying — rather it makes things messy as one would have to know to calculate the square root of d to understand that the relationship concerns the speed of light.
Big Bang does not distinguish classic theory vs quantum mechanics. Classic/relativity theory concerns atomic values (from atoms to galaxies) while quantum mechanics concerns the intra workings of atoms (quantum = small + mechanics = workings).
Now, pray tell, share your great wisdom of postulating common sense to explain the origins of the universe and the energy that makes it exist. Share with us lowly humanoids that which Einstein failed to explain to us yesteryear and what the Stephan Hawkings of today still fail at understanding. Clearly, you have a great intelligence that surpasses us mere mortals.
BTW, if God is your answer, then please give us an ignostic definition of God (as in, not “the Bible is so because the Bible says its so” definition of false logic).
Very very disappointed. This used to be the most epic article and thread on the internet with 100’s of replys. Please I beg you, restore this thread in some form so as to respect all contributions to it. Today was the day I was about to link this article to a website. Not now in it’s current edited form. Thank you.
while spacetime can behave anyway it wants what you said about galaxies moving apart and spacetime expanding faster than light should have been applicable to the space time between the earth and moon or the earth and sun? logically we should be able to detect the distance changing over the last 5 billion years, but it hasn’t therefore that “theory” doesn’t seem to be viable
If (“a given ammount of”) spacetime expands faster than speed of light, wouldn’t that mean that we could not be able to see further than “ammount of spaceTime to reach speed of light” = distance? Basically we are not able to see further than this far, as light wouldn’t reach us. Or is this a completely wrong way to look at spacetime?
Also this would mean that even with an infinite ammount of time traveling at the speed of light, we would never be able to get any closer to said location. That would be like being trapped inside a box but not being able to reach it’s edges.
When we pass gas, the space existed for it to travel(outward) in that direction.
the oxygen around us is the medium that allows us to hear the chirp.
since theoretically f=ma ,which is probably only true in entropy as we know it
in our equilibrium state as (a) does equal 32ft per sec squared can we say the same in outer space.
Basically Einstein was right about the creator, however due to his weakness in faith his comrades scientists convinced him to retract the article.
In advanced theological books the end of the dimension we exist in, as known to humans is described as rolling of scroll, if you view this from a side view it becomes a spiral, which to me resembles going to a black hole, “to merely be aware of a thing is not to know it”. Belief in the unseen, is necessary, to progress forward, an idea in an inventors mind becomes a reality, without which technological advancement is impossible.
Now trying to determine how fast does it take the truth to manifest it self, so it is accepted as universal truth, regardless of religious labels or bias, without man made model of scientific theory, can be determined by knowledge
which makes the ignorant wise, but due to entropy, mankind digresses and repeats the cycle of higher learning, if only he had believed in the Creator
will he realize he too like the universe was created.
I’ve been recently thinking along these lines and came to a conclusion that seems crazy but fits in with every thing learned thus far. What if dark energy is a function of time?
This is my reasoning. We can only see into the past when it comes to the nature of our universe. Every model I’ve come across shows the universe to be shaped like a funnel, or a trumpet. If it were possible to see into the future what would we see? This is my theory.
Suppose I were to stand in between to airplanes. Each one, and me took off in three separate directions. With me being only able to see into the past, I would only see these planes as expanding outward from me. Much the same way we view our universe, as expanding and increasing speed.
Now, what would happen if these planes and myself could continue to travel around the world? Eventually we would meet at a convergence point at the exact opposite side of it. Anyone who is standing at THAT point would see me, and the other two planes as CONVERGING, not expanding, even though, since I could only see backward, I would see only EXPANSION.
It is a known theory that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Except for spacetime. So while space time can travel FTL and objects cannot we see objects speeding up their expansion relative to one another as we do. Much like if you placed dots on a balloon, and then blew it up, all the dots would seem to expand away from each other. What if you could lay the fabric of that balloon flat, and observe the reaction of inflation then? The dots would still appear to expand away from each other, and, would increase their rate of expansion as inflation continues. Since we could only observe from one dot at a time, like our own position in space, expansion would be uniform all around it, no matter which dot you chose as a reference point.
So now I come to the weird part. What if, spacetime, is actually curving back around in on itself to re-converge at a single point? Using the airplane example above, if we would lay the surface of the earth flat and watch the motion of the planes then, they would appear to expand infinitely if we made the starting point the center of this field. But if you made the opposite sides observer point the center, the planes would appear to converge from all sides onto that single point.
This is happening AT THE SAME TIME.
The planes take off, fly, and re-converge in the same moment of time, but based on the perspective, BOTH results are happening. Expansion, and contraction.
This is what I think our universe is doing. Expanding AND contracting at the same moment.
The two forces at work, I believe are gravity and dark energy. Dark energy is forcing everything apart while gravity is trying to keep it together.
Think of it this way though. If dark energy were a central force, like gravity is in the center of an object, but a central force to TIME, pulling it faster and faster towards it then it would explain time and gravity’s effects on one another. They are opposing forces on a universal scale.
Using the balloon analogy, gravity could be referred to as the skin of the balloon, and dark energy (time) is the air pressure pushing it apart. The latex of the balloon is trying to hold things together while the ever increasing air pressure forces things to expand.
What if this balloon were shaped differently? What if the air pressure traveled from the center of the balloon upwards, to a point where it pulled back down on the outside over its center and then spiraled back up again to reconverge at the core?
Still using the balloon analogy we can see that the skin of the balloon (gravity) would still be trying to hold things together, while a central air pressure force (dark energy/time) would be forcing it, not only apart, but back in on itself at the same time.
Expansion, and contraction happening simultaneously.
So, with Gravity being a central contraction force of physical objects in our universe and Dark Energy/Time being a central expansion force, both are possible at the same moment. But since we can only see whats happened in the past, we only see the expansion. If our view could change, I’m positive we would see the contraction.
Both this expansion and contraction make up the cycle of our universe, which this theory encompasses the infiniteness of space/time because it is a never ending, NEVER BEGINNING cycle.
Anyway, thats my two cents. Have fun picking it apart.
“Locked into computations,” – if we release the concept of stagnant possibilities we open the door of eternity. Within that door forgiveness of mistakes exists, for whatever is calculated, will be born new. Numbers are representatives of information, yet are not the information. Information is alive and changes. Get unlocked. The “point” does not exist because it is moving. All is free. Only usable transformations can be grasped, and then released.
Referring to comment No. 12:
How can we see ANYTHING in the sky, if we’re moving away from it faster than light? But we can. Ergo we’re not.
Joe, September 8, 2015 at 8:18 am
I believe that Joe was describing the pockets of the universe, that are said to be moving faster than the speed of light.
Nobody responded to this question, yet it seems one of the most valid questions in the listing.
Is it that those pockets of galaxies are ‘long gone’, but have left a ‘light trace’ that we are viewing?
The photons being emitted, but staggered, as the mass in the pocket moves faster than the photons can be released?
What’s the best answer?
I find that this (the distinction between expansion and motion) is interesting word play and condensing it into some refractive indexed rationale with baseballs to be most worrying.
Since one signifies “growth” and the other “travelling?” distances are still being overcome and positions are still in effect thus both boundaries of position are factually in motion.
As for question 12. Bose–Einstein condensate.
(if one states photons to be bosons)
Although the universe is expanding, we cannot feel it or see it because we are a part of it. As the universe expands, so do we, so does everything. If you were a small human in a small world, 1mm to you in your small world would be exactly the same, relatively, to 1mm in the big world. As the universe expands, at whatever speed, even faster than the speed of light, it is not just space that is expanding, but space-time. The bigger we get, the slower time gets, but because we are a part of the space-time fabric, we cannot feel these changes.
So, as the universe expands, we will not see the planets and galaxies zooming away from each other at the expansion speed, because we too are expanding, and time changes with space change – space-time. Theoretically speaking, only an observer outside of the universe would be able to see and measure changes in distance between objects, even the change sin distances between the very atoms that make us up as we bulge out like big balloons.
I’ve been trying to get my head around this for longer than I care to admit, and the above article has pretty much explained it all, both clearly and concisely.
Excellent work – thank you!
E=Mc 2 means that energy and mass is the same thing.also the faster a thing moves the more it weighs,which means at the speed of light you will have only mass and no energy left to move any faster. If this was true then how come a photon moving at the speed of light is massless.? The only answer can be that the photon is not moving at all but standing still. So it is not light thats moving but the rest of matter moving away from the photon at various speeds in various directions (relativity) so light is standing still and the rest of matter is moving. See comment no 21 earlier on written by me. Comments please.
So are we all saying that there is nothing smaller quarks and leptons, Any matter has vibration, vibration is light which is mass, so who’s saying that universes are not everything and anything with mass, that to me makes boundarys,
What gets me, 95% of mass has cancelled it’s self out through positive and negative actions in early years of this matrix/universe. Yet the theory of what we see today or what we think is out there is 5%, and 100% came from a spear as big as you’re fist, that spear is uncomprehendable in weight!!! Science try’s to disprove religion of god/gods, but I must say science is a religion of prof but to make science work for everything it has come to written knowledge, it is based on something called faith, so what’s better do you actually think? someone happy thinking there is something better after this life with out being ridiculed for beliefs that science doesn’t understand and probably never will, or someone who has it’s faith taken away from them cause science is so eager to disprove the hope for something better, can they not be one of the same, science only try’s to undo the human body and soul, let’s build it better without becoming lazy, together we could find out how limitless we really are, it’s unreal for an idea but the idea of truth to this world is unreal, name something that is spose to be mass, the idea of mass is unreal so why can we not help one another in everything and anything produced from something that could be a coincidence with a golden ratio of nature made from light that has to vibrate to exist. Vibration is everything and without it you know the answer!!! So be better than yesterday and that is all one needs to do to live an intelligent life, reality of what and when space time occures/happens is no one else’s reality, nor can it be the same as yours, no matter where you stand in the universe you will be standing in the centre of it, if it was due to the Big Bang, that’s perspective so you are always right untill you believe you are not, only physically you could feel but chose to feel in other ways, no one can make you do anything, cause science said evolution is real with no history of the facts and religion relates to God in a flying spaceship. I must be right in saying there is something that is and always was, with the means to create a place for us to feel and have free will. One word is not enough and maybe all of space time couldn’t come up with the best name or names for this something. But two words will do for now, you are all apart of everything and the HIGHER POWER has done the start to the riddle and it’s up to us to make a banger of an ending with all that we don’t know and all we do know. Earth is our body, space and time are not on our side but stand and use you’re knowledge to make this place lush again, peace…… Secrets are everywhere…..!!!!!!!!!
Regarding post 7 above…”The law of cause and effect does not exist.If you go back to God and he allways existed you have an effect without a cause,same accounts for the beginning of the universe how and whatever it may be,you allways end up with an effect without a cause.so do you have some effects today that do not have a cause?? Scary!!!.
God is not an effect requiring a cause. If God had a cause, then by definition He wouldn’t be God. No effects are without a cause. The universe is an effect because it had a beginning, which means it had a cause and since an effect cannot be its own cause, then its cause was external.
Mark,
Every this that exists is an effect. This applys to God as well,otherwise he could not exist.so in effect you are agreeing with me that the law of cause and effect does not hold water.
Hello,
Can someone explain this part which is mentioned in the article:
“If you were a catcher trying to catch a superluminal fastball, you might feel the ball hit your glove even before the pitcher starts his wind-up: The effect before the cause. That’s because the image of object would be traveling at the speed of light, trailing the faster baseball like the slower sound of thunder trails after the image of lightning.”
I do not see any issue with this. This is not effect before the cause. All that is happening is that you with feel the ball hit the gloves while you would still see that pitcher has not released the ball. So ball traveled faster than the image, but effect is still after the cause. In reality, the pitcher has released the ball, only problem is that your image of that has not caught up yet. Just like sound of thunder arriving later. The image will catch up with the ball in your hands (of course not sure how you would ever be able to catch it since you could not see it but that is a different matter and not relevant to the thought experiment)
diameter of universe is around 92 billion light years, that means from creation “we” have traveled 46 billion light years in 12-14 billion years, that’s over 3.5 times the speed of light…..what’s up with that?
Hi mike,
Please explainwhere does the 46 billion light years come from and in which direction are we traveling ?
Willy Gauche’.
If space is expanding does the space between electrons and protons also expand? What happens to the function of the atom.where does the energy needed for expansion come from?
Just like science to come up a story like “nothing can travel faster than light, especially objects”… oh, except for space, of course, which I guess is not a thing.
Can anyone explain how a telescope (optical or radio) can apparently violate Special Relativity by “looking back in time?” That is, as the imagining power increases, how can we observe events which occurred 5 or 10 or 13.78 Billion years ago? To do so would appear to violate the maximum speed limit in the Universe.
Thanks.