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Astronomy and Cosmology
Cosmology
Mass of Space (B but approaching I)
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[QUOTE="Drakkith, post: 6854824, member: 272035"] This is not quite true. The distance between unbound objects (like galaxy clusters) is increasing, yes, but not necessarily because they are being moved by something. It's actually a consequence of geometry in non-flat spacetime. That is, they aren't being [I]moved [/I]apart, they are simply [I]moving [/I]apart. Another way to say it is that there is no force being applied to move objects apart, they are simply moving through a certain type of non-flat geometry that's well beyond my full understanding and ability to explain. Gravity is the apparent attraction of objects that are moving through curved spacetime. It's not because space and time are interacting (they aren't separate objects), but because the geometry of spacetime is 'bent' in such a way as to make objects that are moving in straight lines in 4D spacetime move in curved lines in 3D space. If you have trouble visualizing this, just think of the following: You and a friend stand on the equator of the Earth, facing north, 100 feet apart. You both start walking north. Over time you will find that the distance between the two of you is decreasing, yet neither of you has experienced a force that would move you left or right or turn your slightly. Both of you would say that you've been walking a straight line the whole time. Yet, if you both keep walking for long enough, you will collide with each other at the north pole. Your observation that you've both walked straight lines is correct. You both walked what is the equivalent of a straight line on a positively curved surface, something which is called a [I]geodesic[/I]. Geodesics are paths of shortest distance between two points in a curved geometry, such as the 2D surface of the Earth or 4D spacetime. [/QUOTE]
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Astronomy and Cosmology
Cosmology
Mass of Space (B but approaching I)
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