Expanding Space in the Lab: Investigating the Possibilities

[Suppaman]

TL;DR Summary

It is expanding, right? Can we replicate that in the lab?

When I ask Google how to expand space, I get suggestions on removing junk or questions on what it is expanding in to. I am going to try asking here and I know I must phrase the issue properly. It is agreed that many scientists claim that space expanded around the time the universe began. I accept that. Scientists like to test their theories, and so do I. Is there a way that by some means that we can, in the lab, expand space and measure that we have done so? We have many instruments that we use to probe the infinitely small or measure the force (or effects) of gravity. What do we know about space? There appears to be a lot of it, not so empty being filled with virtual particles or some grids (is this the Aether?) where all the little things reside. If the universe can expand space, why can't we?

 

[russ_watters]

It is expanding, right?

Yes.

Can we replicate that in the lab?

Define "lab". Does it have to be a building with walls? Does it have to be observed in or just from this "lab"? And what does "reproduce" mean? Do we have to actually create space ourselves or is it ok to just observe it happen a million different times?

It sounds like you would like to literally see it done in a room in a building. If so, the answer is no. But that would be an unusual constraint.

 

[Suppaman]

I think when a discovery is made, we seldom focus on the physical location of the experiment. When I was testing the software of a time of flight mass spectrometer that incorporated science from Nobel Laureate and former Yale professor John Fenn at Analytica of Branford under the direction of Craig Whitehouse it was miles from Yale. How and where a test for the expansion of space might be conducted is not important to me. How many times it is done, well, how many times has the double-slit experiment been done, is also not significant. The second time is probably the most important. Like gravity waves, they were suspicious at first, but eventually, they saw more, and the rest is history. Can you provide some insight into how we might conduct such an experiment?

 

[gmax137]

Perhaps it is true that the hope that physical research can resolve the philosophical problems of space is just as vain as the hope that philosophical thought can resolve the physical problems of space.

That's the final sentence, at the end of Jammer's book. It is a tough book, but if you think you know what you mean by "space" (much less "expanding space" ) it might be worth a read.

 

[russ_watters]

I think when a discovery is made, we seldom focus on the physical location of the experiment.

Ok, good. Then for this purpose, the "lab" is everything past the business end of the telescope.

Can you provide some insight into how we might conduct such an experiment?

It's done by cataloguing the distance to and velocity of celestial objects.

 

[Suppaman]

That's the final sentence, at the end of Jammer's book. It is a tough book, but if you think you know what you mean by "space" (much less "expanding space" ) it might be worth a read.

This one? (hope so, just ordered it, Amazon is evil.)
Concepts of Space : The History of Theories of Space in Physics

 

[gmax137]

that's it

 

[Suppaman]

that's it

Thank you, your information is most appreciated.

 

[berkeman]

Like gravity waves, they were suspicious at first, but eventually, they saw more, and the rest is history.

(gravitational waves)

 

[phinds]

What is space?

Basically, it's just geometry.

Yes, it is perfectly normal to see phrases such as "space is expanding" or " ... bending" in pop-science presentations but, in reality, space is not a "thing" that can expand or warp or bend. Things IN space are getting farther apart (Google "Metric Expansion") and that's it.

Hard to wrap your head around at first, particularly if you are still at the stage of having been brainwashed by pop-science presentations which ALL use those simplified terms because it's so much easier than trying to explain metric expansion (in which space is just geometry) and pseudo-Riemann geodesics (the "bending" of space)

I recommend the link in my signature.

You'll see that I do use the term "expanding" in that article because it IS an easy shorthand for Metric Expansion.

 

[Suppaman]

(gravitational waves)

I had to check it out and yes, "Gravity Waves are physical perturbations driven by the restoring force of gravity in a planetary environment. In other words, gravity waves are specific to planetary atmospheres and bodies of water." Now if the internet would follow suit...

Thank you.