My partner asked me this but I’m hardly smart enough to understand the question. If the Big Bang was ~13.7 billion years ago and nothing can be faster than the speed of light then how is the size of the universe 95 billion light years across?
Please explain this to my like I’m 5. Thank you!
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Imagine that the universe is a balloon. You place two ants on the balloon. The ants have a top speed, they can only go so fast across the surface of the balloon. Now imagine that you begin inflating the balloon. How fast you blow up the balloon isn’t tied to how fast the ants can move. Even if the ants are moving at their max speed towards each other, they can still be moving apart.
Imagine that the universe is a balloon. You place two ants on the balloon. The ants have a top speed, they can only go so fast across the surface of the balloon. Now imagine that you begin inflating the balloon. How fast you blow up the balloon isn’t tied to how fast the ants can move. Even if the ants are moving at their max speed towards each other, they can still be moving apart.
*Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.*
However, this only applies to objects travelling **within** space. This limitation does not pertain to space **itself**, as it is not in “travelling” but rather expanding. And, to my knowledge, we actually have no scientific laws preventing this from happening at any speed.
The light from the edge of the observable universe is roughly 13.8 billion years old. So that’s the limit to how far we can see, in light years. Yet, the objects that we observe at the edge of the universe aren’t there anymore, of course, because the universe is expanding and everything is moving away from us. So those objects have been **moving away** for 13.8 billion years too. Thus, they are much, much farther away than they look.
Ultimately, factoring this in, along with the fact that universal expansion is constantly accelerating, the observable universe is ~93 billion light years in diameter. The actual universe, however, is probably far bigger.
*Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.*
However, this only applies to objects travelling **within** space. This limitation does not pertain to space **itself**, as it is not in “travelling” but rather expanding. And, to my knowledge, we actually have no scientific laws preventing this from happening at any speed.
The light from the edge of the observable universe is roughly 13.8 billion years old. So that’s the limit to how far we can see, in light years. Yet, the objects that we observe at the edge of the universe aren’t there anymore, of course, because the universe is expanding and everything is moving away from us. So those objects have been **moving away** for 13.8 billion years too. Thus, they are much, much farther away than they look.
Ultimately, factoring this in, along with the fact that universal expansion is constantly accelerating, the observable universe is ~93 billion light years in diameter. The actual universe, however, is probably far bigger.
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