>Einstein thought that the space was NOT expanding<???
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Energy for Expanding Universe
Question - I know that scientists believe that space is expanding.
What causes it to expand? If some kind of energy is involved, where does
this energy come from?
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Hi, David !!
Well, at first, Einstein thought that the space was NOT
expanding, and used in his calculations a factor, named
COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT - so that the expansion
would be cancelled.
Later on he understood that the expansion of the universe
really happens. His theory had showed him this fact !!!
The shift of the light to the red confirms this expansion.
The universe has a constant energy since the beginning.
Mankind has lost Fred Hoyle, the scientist who created
the expression "Big Bang" some weeks ago, at the age
of 86. He was against the idea of the "Big Bang" to explain
the origin of the universe. What really happens is a change
of energy from a type to another. Mass is a concentrated form of energy.
To explain the expansion of the universe, there is the theory
of spontaneous generation of matter, what means, mass
appears from energy to fill the space so as to contradict
the "Big Bang" theory.
But, anyway, the energy of the universe is constant. It was
already there at the beginning and is still there today.
All that happens is a change in the form of energy.
all the best !!!
Alcir Grohmann
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00406.htm -
The Expanding Universe
The Universe is expanding, at an apparently uniform rate - the galaxies are receding from us and each other. Mentally running the expansion backwards, we see that there must have been a point in time when all the matter of the Universe was together in an arbitrarily small volume; the 'event' that created our Universe is known as the Big Bang (a term coined by the English astrophysicist Fred Hoyle in 1950. Hoyle, who championed a rival cosmological theory (steady state), meant the "Big Bang" to be a term of derision, but the name was so catchy that it stuck.). Though the Big Bang suggests a colossal explosion, it wasn't really an "explosion" in the sense that we understand it. Space itself exploded.
http://kosmoi.com/Science/Astronomy/Cosmology/Big_Bang/ -
Mysterious 'dark energy' still expanding universe
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
The universe is expanding so rapidly under the influence of a mysterious force that stars may one day begin to fade from view, astronomers said Tuesday.
Since the influence of a so-called "dark energy" was first observed a half-dozen years ago, its role in the gravity-defying expansion of an already vast cosmos has vaulted to one of the top mysteries in science.
Findings from the NASA-sponsored study reported Tuesday in Washington not only confirmed the existence of "dark energy," but widened speculation about its impact on the fate of the universe.
"The acceleration of the universe is as surprising as if you threw an apple into the air and instead of slowing down and falling back, it was to accelerate upward," said Andy Fabian, one of two British astronomers who presented the findings. "It requires new physics beyond the everyday experience."
The studies led by Fabian and Steve Allen, both from the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, England, suggest that if the universe continues to expand at its current pace, stars could fade from night view in 100 billion years.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/2577828 -
Observations of distant supernova, including 1997ff, suggest that over the past few billion years, a mysterious substance called dark energy has caused gravity, at its largest scale, to become repulsive. When the universe was smaller and the density of matter therefore higher, dark energy would have had a negligible effect. Gravity would have exerted its familiar universal attraction, slowing cosmic expansion.
Z. Levay/Space Telescope Science Institute
A Dark Force in the Universe
Scientists try to determine what's revving up the cosmos
Ron Cowen
Three years ago, observations of distant, exploding stars blew to smithereens some of astronomers' most cherished ideas about the universe. To piece together an updated theory, they're now thinking dark thoughts about what sort of mystery force may be contorting the cosmos.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010407/bob14.asp -
