Archived If the universe is only 14 billion years old, how can it be 92 billion light years wide? (youtube.com)
submitted ago by killer7
Posted by: killer7
Posting time: 1.5 years ago on
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Archived on: 9/19/2019 10:00:00 AM
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10 upvotes, 1 downvotes (91% upvoted it)
Archived If the universe is only 14 billion years old, how can it be 92 billion light years wide? (youtube.com)
submitted ago by killer7
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[–] Morbo 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
How can this house be 4800 square feet if it was just built last year? In the same line of thinking, I'm old enough to be your neighbor.
[–] TauCeti ago (edited ago)
Actually, it isn't the same line of thinking. The universe didn't begin big, and basic physics suggests it should only be able to expand at the speed of light at most. So it's a valid question, why is the universe six times larger than light could have traveled since its beginning. They came up with "expansion" as a fudge factor to explain this.
[–] Morbo ago
The expansion of space-time isn't limited to the speed of light. Even if it were, space-time is expanding in all directions so it would be larger for one simple reason. Imagine a line being drawn where the end points are moving at the speed of light. The line would be expanding at twice the speed of light because it is expanding at both ends. More simply, two cars head off in opposite directions travelling at the speed limit of 65 MPH. In one hour, the cars are 130 miles apart which is double the distance a single car travelling at the speed limit could travel in that time. Space-time is able to expand quicker than the speed of light because it isn't really moving. It also carries no information so it does not violate any laws of physics.
There are also theories that suggest the constants of the the universe are not so constant. The speed of light may have been different in the early universe which would help account for how light from the furthest out galaxies is visible today even though the distance is immense. You can believe "fudge factors" all you want, but that's just a convenient way to cover up what you don't want to believe could be possible. We don't have all the answers, but there will always be people who will deny any and all plausible theories.