Hi again,
Sorry for the delay, here's a few points.
And similarly there's that scaling factor z that came from the metric tensor--it's time dependent by virtue of size, therefore it changes with density, yes?
The redshift z is defined as the following;
(1+z)=\frac{a_0}{a(t)}
where a is the scale factor. So when we say redshift 1, what we really mean is that the universe is currently (1+z)=2 times the size now then when the light was emitted by the source. So yes, the redshift z does change with time, it's actually just like time really. The Hubble paramter H(z) is defined as follows,
\frac{da/dt}{a(t)}=H(z)=H_0[(1-\Omega_{tot})(1+z)^2 + \Omega_r(1+z)^4 + \Omega_m(1+z)^3 + \Omega_\Lambda]^{\frac{1}{2}}
Where \Omega_m is the matter density parameter, \Omega_r is the radiation parameter, \Omega_\Lambda is the dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant, and \Omega_{tot}=\Omega_m+\Omega_r+\Omega_\Lambda
You can show that for any given \Omega_{tot} that during the expansion it can never change the sign of the curvature parameter, ie if \Omega_{tot} < 1 at some time, it will
always be < 1, or if \Omega_{tot} > 1 then it will always be >1, and if \Omega_{tot} = 1 it will always =1. In fact, for any \Omega_{tot}, it will tend to \Omega_{tot} = 1 at very high redshift.
Now I don't know if its legitimate to consider an arbitrary point in the universe at some short (by our clock) time . . .
It is absolutely legitimate to do so, every point in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe is completely equivalent, it has to be for the requirements of isotropy and homogeneity. And it is possible to derive the friedmann equations for the expansion via Newtonian mechanics. I think Liddle does so in his book, might be worth checking out.
to explain away an apparent but never-measured anti-gravity observation (expansion).
Hmmm, not too sure about this one, but the dark energy is not necessary to explain an expanding Universe. It was actually introduced by Einstein to create a
static Universe, which was the popular model before the observations that the Universe was expanding. After the observations by Hubble/Slipher of expansion, it was no longer needed. That's why he called it his "biggest blunder". It's become fashionable again lately b/c it is needed to describe an
accelerating expansion.
This probably just confused things more :) Just curious, are you teaching in the states?
Cheers