1
$\begingroup$

There is something I’ve wondered about ever since seeing a map that illustrates the distribution of matter within the universe: there doesn’t seem to be a blast site. Shouldn’t the big bang have created a “space crater” or some sort of void as everything sped away? The matter density map is somewhat uniform in that matter is everywhere.

$\endgroup$
2

1 Answer 1

0
$\begingroup$

The Big Bang happened everywhere, so no, there is no "space crater". The simplest way to get intuition on this is to imagine blowing up a balloon. Points on the balloon recede from each other, but there is no center. Quoting from link:

Since realistic cosmological models are homogeneous, every point in space has the same properties as every other point, and therefore the models don’t have a center. We can visualize this using the metaphor in which galaxies are dots on a balloon being blown up. No point on the balloon is the center of expansion. If you want to pick out a center, you have to pick a point in the air, not on the surface of the balloon. But in the balloon analogy, the third dimension is just an aid to visualization. Only points on the balloon’s two-dimensional surface represent actual points in space.

$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .