Where's the energy coming from ?

[OFSO]

I think everyone knows by now that the Universe is expanding and has been doing so since the Big Bang. So we are all, in our galaxies, systems, planets etc. heading out away from everyone else. What I didn't know but only read today is that the speed of expansion is increasing. What I want to know is where is the energy coming from to cause this ? (Let alone 'why' which is another subject completely).

We have some of the brightest minds on the planet subscribing to this website (with one or two exceptions), so come on, lets have some theories...

[dubbleyew eight]

instrument error.
you have no proof of the assertion just a belief that the pap you read but dont understand must be true.
remember that half the population believes in god, christ and the afterlife. ....idiots.

[Alisoncc]

All you people think that e = MC² has something to do with mass and the speed of light. No way. MC stands for the Master of Ceremonies, aka God. so e = God². Hence the source of the energy driving the universe.

[Cacophonix]

Some theorists posit, a dark, or vacuum energy (vide. the Casimir effect)!

One has get to grips with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Prnciple and the maths therein, while grappling with intricacies of quantum electro dynamics to come to terms with this theory. Of course there are other theories, some quoting the role of the repulsive force between antimatter particles as the source of a repulsive force, while others look at the topology of space and see curves inside bubbles of spacetime where the weak forces (such as gravity) are effectively distorted allowing for areas of weaker or stronger gravitational waves to appear to speed up or slow down within the context of steadily expanding universe!

Expanding Universe

Personally I think that the universe expands because the turtle at the top of the pile is sucking. A bit like life sometimes!

Caco

[OFSO]

you have no proof of the assertion just a belief that the pap you read

Proof ? I would think doppler-shifted spectrum in emitted energy is proof.

Belief ? Belief applies to things which cannot be proven and which require an act of faith.

Pap ? I was reading the article by Nobel-prize-winner Professor Adam Riess, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, on consistancy of derived values for the Hubble Constant. Hardly pap.

[Cacophonix]

Pap ?

The Cacophonix Push and Pull Theory (aka PAP). Available on the back page of all good quality lucky packets... !

Caco

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Alison is right about MC, but the correct interpretation is that MC applies to DJs (e.g. MC Hammer)

so....God is a DJ

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=bhSB8EEnCAM[/bbvideo]

[AtomKraft]

I think the accurate answer is "we don't know".

If we last for another few thousand years, or a few hundred thousand, there's still going to be a lot of stuff that we'll never really be sure of.

If it's really still expanding, I guess eventually it will run out of room to expand into....

And the distance between adjacent specks of dust will be greater than the distance between us and the farthest away object that can be seen from here. I expect some of those dusty motes may even have been a part of me or you....

It's all a bit mind boggling, and I think it will remain so.

I'd have much more respect for our scientists if I heard them say "no idea" a bit more often.

[Cacophonix]

If it's really still expanding, I guess eventually it will run out of room to expand into....

It isn't expanding into anything! It is its own room! By definition anything that can be expended into is part of the universe.

Ask Slasher. He passed the Celestial Navigation Higher Grade examination magna cum laude at the star fleet academy!

Caco

[compo]

It seems likely that Slasher's impending nuptials will produce a big bang => another surge of energy into the system.
Of course, if said nuptials are further delayed beyond the "due back at work" date there will probably be a different kind of big bang.

[OFSO]

It's not just what is providing the energy which bother's me, it's WHY the galaxies are all moving away from another. It defies logic. Put a bunch of handsome guys in a room with a bunch of pretty girls and they will be attracted to each other and all end up in one lump*. Drifting apart will be the last thing on their minds. So equating gravity to mutual attraction, why aren't the galaxies all attracted to each other ? What's repelling them ?

*Even at my advanced age I am available should anyone have any pretty girls and want to perform this experiment. Usual fees.

[compo]

Magnetic repulsion beats gravity. Or maybe a dearth of Lifebuoy

[compo]

Everything we can observe - planets, stars and galaxies - seems to be rotating. Planetary systems rotate about the planet's axis, solar systems about the star's axis and galaxies around the centre of the galaxy. Could the whole she-bang be rotating about an axis that we have not (yet) discovered? If so, is the expansion that is troubling you due to centrifugal force, and if the 'centrifuge' is still winding-up the increasing rate of expansion?

And now, my head is spinning ...

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The "expansion" of space is a difficult one to explain. This is partly because the physics involved, like quantum mechanics, is non-intuitive. That is to say, it is not "like" anything in our normal human experience, and thus we can never "understand" it in the sense that it will "fit" with the models and principles we use in the rest of our lives. Feynman himself made this point: good physicists can do the math to get a highly accurate prediction which they know is mathematically correct, but not have the same warm fuzzy glow that one gets with more intuitive calculations like the strength of a floor joist. It's the same reason why it is often stated "I will never understand that (wo)man" because we do not have the same motivators or emotions. We can predict behaviour (mostly ) but never "understand" it.
I've used quotes a lot because our normal definitions of the words lead our minds to certain habitual assumptions which have their limits in more complex physics.

Try this explanation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_space

The basis for the theory is here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)

and you may also find these useful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflationary_epoch

In essence, we use an inflationary model for the current Universe because we already have some precedence for metric expansion as an essential element in the Big Bang theory.
We do not know the 'why' yet. In one sense, we never will - physics does not do 'Why?'s, just ever more consistent 'How's. If you want 'Why', you need philosophy or religion.

[Bob]

I have for as long as I can remember just too questions sbout the universe:
1: how can it go on for ever?, shirley not possible
2:how can it have an end?, shirley not possible

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

From a physics point of view, if the Universe (or, all of them if you subscribe to the Multiple Universes theory) is a closed system, then it can never end.
However, due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the ever-increasing entropy means the Universe(s) will eventually become a mush of very cold atoms with no possible life - even worse than Swindon!! ;)
There again, since we don't know how it started, we don't know whether or how it can end.
Nor do we currently have any certainty whether the Univere(s) is(are) a closed system.

So, your options are:

1) Continue scientific enquiry to establish the facts of the above conundrums
2) Party On obliviously; it probably won't end before you die, and there's very little likelihood you could affect the outcome anyway
3) Follow your chosen Religion
4) Invent a new one.

or some combination thereof.

However, even if you believe in God(s) and his/her/its/their creation of the Universe, I would ask the question I asked in Sunday School at age 4; "Who made God?"

[Rossian]

Surely it's got to be from the nuclear powered thronomister at the point of rotation?

The Ancient Mariner

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Depends on the tolerances on the knurled flange brackets