- #1
IMP
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Expanding and accelerating space in layman’s terms.
First, Einstein:
You and I buy two really nice watches. They are accurate to within a billionth of a second per year, and will calculate to the trillionth of a second. You and I are standing next to each other as we synchronize our new watches. Now, I run away from you for 20 feet and then stop. We check our watches. What is this, they are no longer synchronized! As we move away from each other, our frames run at slightly different rates. This is space-time.
Expanding space:
Now you and I find the “zero frame” somewhere in the universe that runs at the same speed as the universe. I think it is actually called the “privileged frame”. Anyway, we enter this frame and find it to be a cube with internal dimensions of 20ft X 20ft X 20ft. I stand with my back against one wall and you stand with your back against the opposite wall. Again we synchronize our watches to each others, and to the frame. We stand there perfectly still for a year. We check our watches again and we find they are still perfectly synchronized to each other, and to the frame. We measure the distance between us and find it is 50ft. What is this? You and I have not moved in relation to each other, or to the frame (our watches prove this), and yet the distance between us has increased! Somehow space has just “welled up” between us.
What did the frame expand into? The wall that I have my back against has not moved at all. The wall that you have your back against has not moved at all. The frame did not expand into anything!
Acceleration:
You and I decide to stand perfectly still for another year (even though I am tired of your complaints about bathroom breaks by now). At the end of this second year we check our watches. They are still synchronized with each other, and with the frame. We check the distance between us and find it to be 1000ft! What is this? The rate of expansion has increased. It is as if the more space there is between us to begin with, the more opportunity for new space to “well up”. Empty space begets more empty space.
If we decide to stand there for a few hundred more years, we will be “moving” away from each other at speeds greater that C, maybe several times greater, yet our watches are still synchronized! Neither of us has moved!
Please comment. Thank you.
First, Einstein:
You and I buy two really nice watches. They are accurate to within a billionth of a second per year, and will calculate to the trillionth of a second. You and I are standing next to each other as we synchronize our new watches. Now, I run away from you for 20 feet and then stop. We check our watches. What is this, they are no longer synchronized! As we move away from each other, our frames run at slightly different rates. This is space-time.
Expanding space:
Now you and I find the “zero frame” somewhere in the universe that runs at the same speed as the universe. I think it is actually called the “privileged frame”. Anyway, we enter this frame and find it to be a cube with internal dimensions of 20ft X 20ft X 20ft. I stand with my back against one wall and you stand with your back against the opposite wall. Again we synchronize our watches to each others, and to the frame. We stand there perfectly still for a year. We check our watches again and we find they are still perfectly synchronized to each other, and to the frame. We measure the distance between us and find it is 50ft. What is this? You and I have not moved in relation to each other, or to the frame (our watches prove this), and yet the distance between us has increased! Somehow space has just “welled up” between us.
What did the frame expand into? The wall that I have my back against has not moved at all. The wall that you have your back against has not moved at all. The frame did not expand into anything!
Acceleration:
You and I decide to stand perfectly still for another year (even though I am tired of your complaints about bathroom breaks by now). At the end of this second year we check our watches. They are still synchronized with each other, and with the frame. We check the distance between us and find it to be 1000ft! What is this? The rate of expansion has increased. It is as if the more space there is between us to begin with, the more opportunity for new space to “well up”. Empty space begets more empty space.
If we decide to stand there for a few hundred more years, we will be “moving” away from each other at speeds greater that C, maybe several times greater, yet our watches are still synchronized! Neither of us has moved!
Please comment. Thank you.