It’s my understanding that in astronomical distances, things can be moving further apart by the space between them expanding, *not* simply by motion.
For example, say you have star A, 1 million light years from star B, both completely motionless for argument. These stars have a relative motion because the space between them expands, correct? So 1 million light years becomes 1,000,007 light years after 1 year of time.
If all that is true, does this affect smaller scale measurements? Does a mile of road technically become 1.000007 miles? Please let me know what I’m not understanding.
In: 6
[This article](https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/mg25033411-300-does-the-expansion-of-the-universe-apply-to-atoms-and-objects-like-me/) nicely answers your question, but to summarise there’s two factors:
1. This effect is observable over vast distances and times so over human distances it is negligible even for the lifetime of the universe
2. The forces holding us together be it gravity, electrostatic or even forces holding protons and neutrons together, are far stronger than the expanding force caused by dark matter/energy. Should this force increase above these, then yes I guess everything would be ripped apart.
Latest Answers