NationStates Jolt Archive

I was reading Bill Brison and brief history of everythingand it started to talk about the big bang. Now the big bang states that the universe went from virtually nothing to something billions ofl ight years across in less than three minutes. I thought nothing can travel faster than light, so how can this happen, is it a fundemental part of what makes space, well space? Or am I missing something? There must be an answer, anyone know what it is?

I take oit you're reading A Short History of Nearly Everything?

If you, are, it doesn't say light years, it says billions of kilometres, not light years, which makes perfect sense. (unless you're looking at a different part. I'm looking about two pages in to the first chapter)

The actual expansion did take place at superluminal speeds, according to the theory.

The Theory of Inflation
In the corresponding theory of inflation, the Universe, because of properties of elementary particles not accounted for in the standard big bang models, expands for a fleeting instant at its beginning at a much higher rate than that expected for the big bang. This period, which is called the inflationary epoch, is a consequence of the nuclear force breaking away from the weak and electromagnetic forces that it was unified with at higher temperatures in what is called a phase transition. (An example from everyday life of a phase transition is the conversion of ice to liquid water.)
This phase transition is thought to have happened about 10-35 seconds after the creation of the Universe. It filled the Universe with a kind of energy called the vacuum energy, and as a consequence of this vacuum energy density (which plays the role of an effective cosmological constant), gravitation effectively became repulsive for a period of about 10-32 seconds. During this period the Universe expanded at an astonishing rate, increasing its size scale by about a factor of 1050. Then, when the phase transition was complete the universe settled down into the big bang evolution that we have discussed prior to this point. This, for example, means that the entire volume of the Universe that we have been able to see so far (out to a distance of about 18 billion light years) expanded from a volume that was only a few centimeters across when inflation began!

It should really say big bang not big band but never mind. I thought it said light years but I could be wrong! It was a little late when I was reading it.

The other reply says that it did go faster than light, but a time when our laws of pysics did not apply. Is that the gist?

It should really say big bang not big band but never mind. I thought it said light years but I could be wrong! It was a little late when I was reading it.

The other reply says that it did go faster than light, but a time when our laws of pysics did not apply. Is that the gist?

Space expanded faster than light. The space is allowed to do that. Dimensional expansion.

And here I was thinking it was some kind of new musical group. =p

right thanks, I knew that there was a reason!

The expansion of the universe after the big bang has nothing to do with movement. Space itself expanded faster than the speed of light. No particle has ever nor will ever move faster than light.

And here I was thinking it was some kind of new musical group. =p

Same here!

Big band and light speed

I was warping through a worm-hole this morning and ran into Glen Miller. True story.

I was warping through a worm-hole this morning and ran into Glen Miller. True story.

How is he? Did he form a new band? Were they with him?

:D

Space expanded faster than light. The space is allowed to do that. Dimensional expansion.
Incidentally, it only did so for the first few picoseconds. After that, it has been expanding at the speed of light.