EVIDENCES OF THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE

Zoren Glenn A. Gaanan

11-Excellence

Evidences of the Expanding Universe

Introduction

The universe is said to be expanding until now based on the Big-bang Theory

(Lemaître, 1927). But it needs to present definite and convincing evidence that our

universe is currently expanding from the time it has been created. Astronomers like Sir

Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, George Lemaître, Vesto Slipher, and

other astronomers contribute to puzzle out the paradoxes that troubled our minds since

the ancient times up to the early 20th century. The universe is either static or undergoes

a continuous expansion (Copernicus, n.d.). From the emerging scientific discoveries, we

will have a clear understanding and profound knowledge about the possible origin of the

universe that will change our perspective. This knowledge will be a huge contribution to

the development that will occur to our scientific studies for further explorations beyond

the vast horizon. We can further understand the different questions that troubling our

scientific beliefs through the evidences of the expanding universe. Up to these days,

there are still questions to the expansion of the universe whether the universe will

continuously expand or there will be a time to make a full stop of expansion.

Continuous Expansion of the Universe

The universe is continuously expanding from the time it was created up to these

days and it will not stop on expanding. After Heinrich Olbers says that our universe is

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fixed or finite, Newton has come up with the Three Laws of Motion which states that

“every object persists in its state of rest and uniform motion in a straight line unless it is

compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it” (Hall, 2015, para. 2). The

Newton’s first Law of Motion or the Law of Inertia can be applied in the universe as it

expands. Due to his discovery of the three laws of motion which led him to conclude

that the gravity of the object is attractive at all times. As for the case of the universe, any

object in the universe is capable of attracting other objects so if the universe is said to

be fixed in its place, then all objects in the universe may collide due to the ability of

every object in the universe to attract one another which he concluded that the universe

is not fixed rather it is expanding (Sloan, n.d.). For better understanding of the relevance

of Newton’s laws in the expanding universe, saying that “free space doesn't resist any

motion. This means that a body can keep on moving in space with constant velocity

forever without any need for application of force on it. So, no energy is required to keep

the body moving in space. This is exactly in accordance with Newton's First Law of

Motion tells that any object moving with constant velocity tends to move with the same

velocity until any external force is applied on it or actually stops it” (Suman, 2015). One

of the great scientific evidence of the expanding universe is the discovery of the redshift

that is based on the theory of gravity in the General Theory of Relativity in 1915 by

Albert Eintein that when Vesto Slipher discovered the nebulous object that redshifted

and contain longer wavelength as it moves away. Astronomers later found out that this

nebulous object is one of the distant galaxies from us. Edwin Hubble in 1929 is the one

who worked on measuring the distance of the redshift from us and discovered that the

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distance is increasing that led to the evidence of the continuous expanding universe

(Sloan, n.d.).

Endless Universe with Finite Universes

In the course of time, our universe will come to its full stop in expanding. “The

fate of the universe is determined by a struggle between the momentum

of expansion and the pull of gravity. The rate of expansion is expressed by the Hubble

Constant, H0, while the strength of gravity depends on the density and pressure of the

matter in the universe. If the pressure of the matter is low, as is the case with most

forms of matter of which we know, then the fate of the universe is governed by the

density. If the density of the universe is less than the critical density, which is

proportional to the square of the Hubble constant, then the universe will expand forever.

If the density of the universe is greater than the critical density, then gravity will

eventually win and the universe will collapse back on itself, the so called Big Crunch”

(Wollack, 2014, para. 1). The concept of the Big Crunch is related to the enormous

energy produced during the Big-bang, so the velocity of the expansion would slow down

over time caused by the mutual attraction or gravity of matter that would serve as a

stabilizer to stop the expansion of the universe. No matter is available at the maximum

point of expansion so the tendency of all matter is to return to their original point of

departure since there is nothing to be attracted at the maximum point of expansion.

In this situation called the oscillatory universe, we can create a cyclic model where the

Big-bang is happening immediately after the Big Crunch of the first universe takes

place. This indicates that our universe is composed of an endless universe with finite

universes that every single finite universe leads to Big Crunch that will serve as the Big-

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bang of the new universe so eventually the expansion of the universe will stop

(Wikipedia, 2018).

Conclusion

From the different scientific studies, different astronomers come up with scientific

discoveries that present definite and convincing evidence through the origin of the

universe. Their studies and discoveries became a big contribution in finding a definite

proof or evidence that our universe is currently expanding from the time it has been

created up to the present. There are questions that we must answer or need substantial

evidence to support our argument about the expansion of the universe whether it is

expanding forever or it will come to the point of stopping. Based on the evidences

presented, the expanding universe is the one that has substantial evidence through

scientific formula that can be used to measure the distance of a celestial body away

from us and mathematical calculations of the distance of the nebulous object that we

found out later that it was a distant galaxy from us that eventually increased its distance

as time passes. It posses much clearer concept and provide more convincing proofs

than the concept of the universe that will eventually stop stated from the Big Crunch

Hypothesis because the concept of the Big Crunch is just a hypothesis which is

basically made on a basis of limited proof or evidence. Based on the presented

evidence on the expansion of the universe, I therefore conclude that the universe is

currently expanding from the time it has been created up to these days.

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References

Copernicus, N. (n.d.). Popular Astronomy, Vol. 44. Retrieved from

http://adsbit.harvard.edu//full/1936PA.....44..525M/0000525.000.html

Hall, N. (2015). Newton’s Law of Motion. Retrieved from

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/K-12/airplane/newton.html

Lemaître, G. (1927). Lemaître and the Expansion of the Space. Retrieved from

https://www.decodedscience.org/georges-lemaitre-discovered-the-expansion-of-

the-universe/5588

Sloan, A. P. (n.d.). The Expanding Universe. Retrieved from

http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr1/en/astro/universe/universe.asp

Suman, S. (2015). How does Newton's first law work? In space, what keeps an object

moving constantly without energy? Retrieve from https://www.quora.com/How-

does-Newtons-first-law-work-In-space-what-keeps-an-object-moving-constantly-

without-energy

Wikipedia. (2015). Ultimate fate of the universe. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe

Wollack, E. J. (2014). Universe 101. Retrieved from

https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni shape.html