How is the universe expanding?

Question

Could we compare the universe to a stomach. For example, when you eat food your stomach expands. So could the universe be expanding simply because more planets are developing from some unknown source? How are planets created?

Answer 1

stomach isn't the best analogy because as far as we know the universe as a whole is not contracting. The universe is expanding because of the big bang which spread matter through out the universe pushing it away from the center. Planets are formed by the compression of matter that came from the Big Bang.

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Answer 2

planets are made from cosmic dust and ice.  there is more than enough of this stuff to make planets pretty much forever.  it's expanding because of the big bang.  planets are formed when dust and ice compress due to gravity.  if the planet is close enough to a star, it loses it's water.  if it's too far, it stays frozen.

Answer 3

This seems a little simplistic even to me but, using Occam's razor (that all things being equal the simplest answer is usually correct) ,I would say that Newtons first law explains the expansion.

Newton found that objects in motion and objects at rest tend to remain so unless acted upon by an "outside" force. We don't know what started the expansion but it's clear that it IS taking place. And also clear that there can be nothing "outside" of the universe because the universe is all that exists. So there could be nothing to "act" on the universe or stop it's expansive motion.

Also, part of what, we think, we know is that ALL that IS was "created" 13.7 billion years ago at the Big Bang. There is nothing "new" under the sun or anywhere else, at the moment anyway:)

Unless, of course, there IS some "higher" Power separate and "beyond" the universe, a possibility I don't deny. IF that power does exist it seems impossible to me for us to do anything but predict what may happen in time or even if "time and space" will continue to exist as it does.

In other words, I think we're just along for the ride, being a part of the universe ;) We can't know the destination only some of the past and our present.

Answer 4

the universe is spreading out but there is no new matter being pumped into it.

Answer 5

we are all still part of a massive explosion which created the universe millions of years ago therefore everthing is moving further apart and expanding

Answer 6

well man has many answers for that but between you and me man can not be trusted as far as we can throw them they all lie look at the way we are living a society created by lies and old stories i hope that works

Answer 7

  

Planets are developed by accumulation of debris and gasses already existent in space.  Gravity pulls the gasses and solid matter together until they reach a critical gravitational point and cannot separate.  

Eventually, enough material is pulled in to create enough mass to form a planet.  Some are made entirely of gasses.  Some are rocky planets, like Earth.  Others may exist in the form of a combination of gasses, frozen gasses, solidified gasses under pressure, and solid matter.

We lack sufficient knowledge about "Dark Matter" and the nature of gravity before we can determine why the universe is expanding.

Answer 8

Planets are created through collisions and masses of rocks getting trapped in orbit around a star. That would be a planet.. if it is trapped in a orbit around a planet then it is a moon. There is nothing in space, it is a vacuum so when you create an explosion the force will travel until it is interfered by another mass or force. So technically the universe is expanding into preexisting space. It is driven mostly by inertia from the original Big Bang.  

Answer 9

The most likely reasoning for the expansion of the universe is the Big Bang.  Because (apparently) everything began with an explosion from a singularity in one place, everything will continue to move out from that point.  It's just like an explosion on Earth, everything shoots out in a radius around it.  In space, though, there is no air resistance or friction, so there is nothing to slow the objects down, hence, they will "expand" (Read: fly away from their originating point) forever.

Answer 10

Depends if you believe in "the mother ship" or the big bang theory. The later offers a more detailed explanation as a theory. The Universe is expanding in the sense that part of the explosion (bang) that created matter/elements is still expanding out. This can't be compared to your stomach because we control our intake so we could be expanding if we go beyond our daily recommended calorie amount or stay constant by eating the same amount. Planets were created from the original big bang where particles and matter were able to sustain shape and revolve around a larger mass without actually being pulled in by it's gravitational pull. Those with lesser mass will tend to drift or travel to larger mass (meteors, asteroids etc.). The calculation has to be near perfect for a planet to be successfully created, remember not every planet can support life. Of course for the non-darwinist or non-evolutionist, God created planets and the Universe well before his son arrived in Palestine.

Answer 11

There isn't more stuff in the Universe.  It's more that the stuff in the Universe is getting farther apart.

But more space is being created.  One estimate is that more than half of the space of the Universe has been created in the most recent 3 billion years.